‘A kid is a terrible thing to be, in charge of nothing’
Recently we read the childhood of David Copperfield and then compared it to Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver’s novel inspired by her hero Dickens but set in the rust belt of Appalachia and exploring contemporary issues. It was a co-recipient of the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for fiction and winner of the 2023 Women’s Prize for Fiction. Like Dckens, she lays bare and makes an impassioned criticism of social injustice, cruelty and incompetence of those who should be helping children,
Readers will remember David Copperfield’s loving but child-like mother who is ripe for exploitation by her second husband Mr Murdstone. Dickens gives a chilling account of his coercive control of his wife and his abuse of young David and one of the highlights of the book is when Mr Murdstone and his sister receive their humiliating defeat at the hands of David’s aunt, Miss Betsy Trotwood.
His stepfather sends young David away to a gloomy boarding school run by the sadistic Mr Creakle until the death of his mother when he is sent to work in a bottling factory and lodges with the improvident but warm-hearted Micawbers. This echoes Dickens’ own experience of working in a similar factory as a ten year old, supporting his family who live with his father in Marshalsea Debtors’ Prison. When the Micawbers leave London David runs away, undergoing many hardships until he arrives destitute, desperate and dirty at Betsy Trotwood’s gate.
Demon’s mother is also vulnerable, a teenaged, drug-addicted single mother, but there is a warm relationship between her and Demon and the Peggot family next door. Then onto the scene comes Stoner, a handsome thug with studs, tattoos and a fast motor bike who marries Demon’s mother and becomes physically and emotionally abusive to Demon. The stress of the marriage turns his mother back to alcohol and drugs and she has to go into rehab.
Now the social Services let down Demon very badly. First he is fostered by farmer Crickson where he is neglected and has to work on the farm but is fed well and able to attend school. Then when his mother dies, Demon is moved into a foster home run by the McCabes. Like the Micawbers, the McCabes are poor but also mean and exploitative. They squander the money they receive for Demon, skimp on his food and put him out to work sorting through trash behind a market that is also a front for a meths lab. An inexperienced young social worker does not help him.
Demon becomes unkempt, avoided by the kids at school because of his poverty and dirty appearance. When the McCabes have to move on, Demon decides to look for his father’s mother and like David he runs away and embarks on a long journey to Tennessee, sleeping rough, exploited and robbed but managing to find his grandmother Betsy Woodall.
Betsy raises little girls who need homes and places Demon with the widower of one of these girls, a football coach and his daughter Angus. The rest of the book tells of Demon’s rise to fame as a brilliant footballer but subsequent drug addiction following an accident and how he manages to eventually turn his life around and like David become an author.
In common with Dickens, Kingsolver tells good story, although those who read it to the end agreed with some critics that the middle section is too long. She has skilfully used Dickens’ novel to create a framework within which she can expose child abuse and neglect, poverty and the devastating effect of drug and opioid addiction on a whole society. The novel is full of memorable characters – part of the pleasure of reading the novel lies in recognising the character counterparts from Dickens. Although the setting is bleak, it is redeemed by touches of humour although it lacks the warmth of Dickens.
It is a very well-written novel, enthusiastically reviewed by the critics. Readers who enjoy her other books like the Poisonwood Bible will also enjoy this.
Next book: Going Home Tom Lamont