Content warning: This section references addiction, death by overdose, and physical and emotional abuse.

Demon Copperhead subverts popular misconceptions of white people living in poverty in the United States. Common slurs such as “redneck,” “hillbilly,” and “white trash” are reappropriated by Kingsolver’s characters to defend their dignity and pride. The cultural isolation of the lower classes in regions like Appalachia stems from a longstanding relationship between these communities and political and socioeconomic power structures, which Demon Copperhead exposes.

Appalachia is largely rural and was once famous for its coal mines. Coal mining companies bought up the land, controlling the schools, hospital systems, and other public infrastructure. While the owners of the companies earned unimaginable wealth, the coal miners worked until their literal deaths. Coal mining is a physically taxing job that exposes workers to numerous accidents and diseases, but coal miners were proud of their hard work. However, when the coal mines closed, entire regions lost their livelihoods. The poverty and unemployment statistics that characterize popular perceptions of places like Lee County are a direct result not of the residents’ character but of a society that exploited and then turned its back on them.