Carrie

:In 1952, a film of Theodore Dreiser's novel Sister Carrie was made under the title Carrie; for that film, see: Sister Carrie. For the digital library see Carrie (digital library).

Plot summary

The book uses fictional documents to frame the story of Carrie (short for Carrietta) White, a teenager from Chamberlain, Maine, who has been bullied at home for years by her vindictive Christian fundamentalist mother, Margaret White.

Related Topics:
Fictional documents - Maine - Christian fundamentalist

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She does not fare much better at her school, Thomas Ewin High School; at the beginning of the novel, she has her first period while showering after her physical education class. Carrie, who is terrified, has no concept of menstruation; her mother never spoke to her about it, and she has been a social outcast throughout high school. But the thought that this could be Carrie's first period never occurs to her classmates; instead of sympathizing with the frightened Carrie, they use it as an opportunity to taunt her, throwing tampons and sanitary napkins at her instead of helping. Gym teacher Miss Desjardin sees what is going on and immediately wants the other girls barred from attending the upcoming school prom as punishment.

Related Topics:
High School - Period - Physical education - Tampon - Prom

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However, Carrie gradually discovers that she has telekinetic powers. Carrie tries to keep these powers under control, even though she is continually pressed to the limit.

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Meanwhile, Sue Snell, one of the girls who had earlier teased Carrie, begins to feel remorseful for her participation in the locker room antics, takes pity on her and offers to become her friend. With prom fast approaching, Sue sets Carrie up with her boyfriend, Tommy Ross (the class hunk).

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However, Chris Hargenson (the girl who hates Carrie and helped instigate the earlier episode in the showers) is incensed that she is unable to attend prom. For revenge, she and her boyfriend, Billy Nolan, decide to rig the election for prom queen so that Carrie will win, then hatch a subsequent plan to humiliate her in front of the prom-goers.

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It's a plan that Chris will soon regret. After drenching Carrie and Tommy in pig's blood, Carrie is finally pushed over the edge. Perceiving everyone to be laughing at her (not everyone was), she finally demonstrates the full effect of her telekinetic powers, wreaking her revenge on her terrified classmates.

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After causing a massive fire that destroys Thomas Ewin High School and trapping almost everyone inside, Carrie gets revenge on Billy and Chris (who had fled). Then, after burning virtually all of downtown Chamberlain, returns home to confront her mother, who stabs Carrie in the shoulder with a kitchen knife. Carrie kills her mother, using her telekinesis to cause her heart to slow, and ultimately stop.

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Carrie, mortally wounded but still alive, then makes her way to the roadhouse where her father got drunk the night she was conceived (he more-or-less raped her mother, who felt that even though they were married, it was still a sin to have sex), intending to destroy it. But she succumbs to blood loss before she can do so. Sue Snell finds Carrie collapsed in the parking lot of the roadhouse and Carrie dies in her arms, the knife still protruding from her shoulder. Carrie had believed that Sue and Tommy had set her up for the prank, but she uses her telekinesis to scan inside of Sue and, in one of the book's more uplifting moments, finds no animosity towards her.

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The novel also includes fictional news accounts detailing the town's destruction, the aftermath, "interviews" from survivors and transcripts from court proceedings concerning the investigation. A letter at the end of the book foreshadows a young girl with the same telekinetic abilities as Carrie.

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The film ends differently. Firstly, Carrie kills her mother by impaling her with kitchen knives and, afterwards, feels guilty and forces the house to collapse onto her, committing suicide. Both the film and the book see Carrie dying in guilt for killing her mother, but the film has her committing suicide, whilst the book has her dying of telekinetic exhaustion. After this scene, Sue is dreaming of a time in the future, where she is laying some flowers on Carrie's grave. As she bends down, a bloody hand arises from the ground and grabs her. Stephen King said that he wished that he had thought of the ending himself. Whilst some see this as a nice shock to end with, others see it as too much of a farcical end to one of horror's more serious films.

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Carrie draws strong parallels between the onset of the title character's adolesence, especially her menstruation and sexuality, and her psychic powers.

Related Topics:
Menstruation - Sexuality

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