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Carrie (1974) was Stephen King's first published novel. King has commented that he finds the work to be "raw" and "with a surprising power to hurt and horrify". It is one of the most frequently banned books in U.S. schools and the film version was banned in Finland. Fans often see it as more of an emotionally touching story due to its portrayal of high school bullying and it has, at times, been a favorite amongst the Goth subculture. Much of the book is written in epistolary structure in the form of newspaper clippings, letters, excerpts from books, etc. Brian De Palma created a film version in 1976. This is one of the few adaptations of a Stephen King novel that the author himself appreciated.
Plot summary The book uses fictional documents to frame the story of Carietta "Carrie" White, a girl from Chamberlain, Maine, who has been raised by her mother, Margaret. Margaret is a Christian fundamentalist, and has a vindictive and unstable personality. Over the years she has ruled Carrie with a proverbial rod of iron; she has been mentally and emotionally abusive, occasionally crossing over into physical abuse as well. Carrie does not fare much better at her school, Thomas Ewen High School, where her plain looks and unfashionable attire make her the butt of ridicule; 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. The thought that this could be Carrie's first period, or that sympathy might be appropriate, never occurs to her classmates; as with everything else, they use it as an opportunity to taunt her. Led by Chris Hargensen, the most popular girl in school who has a record of targeting outsiders, they throw tampons and sanitary napkins at her. When gym teacher Miss Desjardins sees what is going on, she at first berates Carrie, but is horrified when she realizes that Carrie had never had a period before and has no idea what is happening. She helps her clean up and tries to explain. Carrie is excused from school and sent home to her mother, who shows little sympathy for Carrie's first encounter with "the woman's curse". Miss Desjardins, still incensed over the locker room incident, wants all the girls who taunted Carrie suspended and barred from attending the upcoming school prom as punishment. The school principal finds this a bit harsh and instead remands the girls to detention under the unforgiving eye of Miss Desjardins. When Chris refuses to appear for the detention, she is suspended and barred from the prom. Carrie gradually discovers that she has telekinetic powers. She has apparently possessed the gift since birth, but conscious control over it disappeared after her infancy, although she remembers incidents throughout her life that could be attributable to telekinesis; for example, a shower of rocks on her house at the age of three (similar to Shirley Jackson's heroine Eleanor in The Haunting of Hill House). Carrie practices her powers in secret, developing strength, even though it is physically tiring and she is continually pressed to the limit. She also finds that she is somewhat telepathic, enough to be able to discern people's real feelings toward her; for instance, she knows that the gym teacher has mixed feelings of sympathy and disgust toward Carrie. Meanwhile, Sue Snell, another popular girl who had earlier teased Carrie, begins to feel remorseful for her participation in the locker room antics and takes pity on her and offers to become her friend. With prom fast approaching, Sue sets Carrie up with her boyfriend, Tommy Ross, one of the most attractive and popular boys in the school, who Sue suspects has impregnated her. Carrie is suspicious, but accepts, and makes her own outfit, including a red velvet gown. Carrie's mother won't hear of her daughter doing anything as carnal as attending a school dance, revealing much of her own past as she explains why. She believes that sex in any form is sinful, even after marriage. She also knows all about Carrie's telekinetic powers, even though she considers them a kind of witchcraft; it seems they run in every third generation of her family. Carrie is tired of hearing that everything is a sin; she wants to try to live a normal life and sees the prom as a new beginning. For her part, Chris is incensed that she is unable to attend prom. She initially attempts to get her father, a prominent local lawyer, to intimidate the school principal into reinstating her prom privileges. The principal, however, is disgusted with Chris's behavior and stands up to Mr. Hargensen, who ultimately decides the matter is not worth pursuing further. Chris, furious with Carrie, devises her own plan of revenge with her boyfriend Billy Nolan. Billy, along with some friends, drives out to a farm and slaughter two pigs to fill two buckets full of blood, and, breaking into the school gym, suspends the buckets over the stage with a pull cord. Chris rigs Carrie's election as prom queen, her friends assisting in her plan. When Carrie and Tommy go up to get crowned, Chris will pull the cord on Carrie, ruining the happiest moment of her life. The plan succeeds beyond their wildest hopes. Tommy is knocked unconscious by one of the falling buckets, and he and Carrie are drenched in blood. Everyone in attendance, even some of the teachers, find themselves laughing at Carrie, as Sue says later, "after all those years of laughing at Carrie, what else could you do?" Carrie is finally pushed over the edge. She leaves the building in agonized humiliation, but once outside, she remembers her telekinetic gift and decides to use it for vengeance. Initially planning to lock all the doors and turn on the sprinklers to destroy the dresses and ruin the hair of all of the snobby girls that bullied her, Carrie forgets about the electrical equipment set up for the dance band and the PA system. Watching through the windows, she witnesses the electrocution death of two of the students and a school official. The last thread of her sanity snaps, and she decides to kill everyone, eventually causing a massive fire that destroys Thomas Ewen High School, trapping almost everyone inside. Walking home, she burns virtually all of downtown Chamberlain. A side-effect of Carrie's gift is broadcast telepathy; anyone within a certain radius becomes aware that the hideous carnage at the school and the explosions and fires downtown are being caused by Carrie White, even if they do not know who Carrie is. A few even catch details of her thoughts. Carrie returns home to confront her mother, who believes Carrie has been completely taken over by Satan and that the only way to save her is to kill her. Revealing that Carrie's conception was a result of marital rape, she 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. Carrie, mortally wounded but still alive, makes her way to the roadhouse where her father got drunk the night she was conceived. Seeing Chris and Billy leaving the roadhouse, and with their attempt to run Carrie over, she telekinetically takes control of the vehicle from Billy and wrecks the car into the roadhouse, killing them both, and setting the roadhouse on fire. Sue, who has followed Carrie's telepathic "broadcast," finds Carrie collapsed in the parking lot. Carrie and Sue have a brief telepathic conversation. Carrie had believed that Sue and Tommy had set her up for the prank, but Sue invites her to look into her mind and see that it is not true. Discovering that Sue is innocent and has never felt animosity towards her personally, Carrie forgives her and dies; however, before doing so Carrie causes Sue to abruptly miscarry, which can be seen as an act of revenge or friendship. However, Sue believes that she is having her period. Carrie draws strong parallels between the onset of the title character's adolescence, especially her menstruation and sexuality and psychic powers. Background Stephen King revealed in a later essay that the character of Carrie was based on a girl he had known at high school. She was apparently an undiagnosed epileptic, considered odd, different, tormented and alone, apparently from an extremely religious family, although not as abusive as Margaret White. After high school graduation, this girl reportedly moved into a large city and became independent, but died a year later when she suffocated during a seizure. King said that this incident taught him that "there are no happy endings." Carrie was actually the sixth novel that Stephen King had written, but the first to be published. It was written while he was living in a trailer in Hermon, Maine, on a portable typewriter that belonged to his wife, Tabitha. The novel originally started as a short story for Cavalier magazine, but King abandoned it, throwing it into the trash. His wife fished it out, read it and convinced him to continue writing. At the time of publication, King was working as a teacher at Hampden Academy and barely making ends meet ($6,400 annually). To cut down on expenses, King had the phone company remove the telephone from his house. As a result, when King received word that the book was chosen for publication, his phone was out of service. Doubleday editor, William Thompson (who would eventually become King's close friend), sent a telegram to King's house which read: "CARRIE OFFICIALLY A DOUBLEDAY BOOK. $2,500 ADVANCE AGAINST ROYALTIES. CONGRATS, KID - THE FUTURE LIES AHEAD, BILL." New American Library bought the paperback rights for $400,000, which according to King's contract with Doubleday, was split with them. King recalls, Carrie was written "after Rosemary's Baby but before The Exorcist, which really opened up the field. I didn't expect much of Carrie. I thought who'd want to read a book about a poor little girl with menstrual problems? I couldn't believe I was writing it." The book is dedicated to his wife, Tabitha: "This is for Tabby, who got me into it - and then bailed me out of it." Carrie was published April 5, 1974 with an initial print run of 30,000 copies for a cover price of $5.95 USD. The hardback sold a mere 13,000 copies, while the paperback, released a year later, sold over 1 million copies in its first year. Brian DePalma's film adaptation was released ten weeks after King's second book, Salem's Lot, was published. Prior to Carrie, King had been rejected from Doubleday for his novel Getting it On (later retitled to Rage and released under the pseudonym of Richard Bachman). He had also written The Long Walk and The Running Man (both also released under the Bachman penname). In a talk at the University of Maine at Orono, King said of Carrie, "I'm not saying that Carrie is shit and I'm not repudiating it. She made me a star, but it was a young book by a young writer. In retrospect it reminds me of a cookie baked by a first-grader- tasty enough, but kind of lumpy and burned on the bottom." For more on King's inspiration for Carrie see Stephen King's Inspiration: Carrie. Trivia Adaptations Editions | ||||||||
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