Carrie (novel)

Carrie is the debut horror novel by American author Stephen King, published on April 5, 1974, by Doubleday. Set in the town of Chamberlain, Maine, the story follows Carietta "Carrie" White, a friendless, socially isolated high school girl who is subjected to abuse from her fanatically religious mother and relentless bullying from her classmates. Carrie gradually discovers that she possesses telekinetic powers, which she ultimately unleashes in a violent act of vengeance after a cruel prank at her senior prom.

Plot Summary

In 1979, 16-year-old Carrie White — a misfit ridiculed for her appearance, clothing, and her mother's extreme religious beliefs — experiences her first menstrual period while showering after gym class. Unaware of what menstruation is, she panics, and her classmates, led by the popular and cruel Chris Hargensen, mock her and throw tampons and sanitary pads at her. The gym teacher, Rita Desjardin, intervenes and sends Carrie home. While walking home, Carrie unconsciously uses telekinesis to knock a taunting child off his bicycle, realizing that she can move objects with her mind.

Carrie's mother Margaret, a fanatical religious zealot, punishes her for menstruating by locking her in a closet. At school, Chris Hargensen is suspended and banned from the prom for refusing detention, and she vows revenge. Another classmate, Sue Snell, feeling guilty, asks her boyfriend Tommy Ross to take Carrie to the prom as an act of atonement. Carrie, initially suspicious, accepts and begins preparing, all while learning to control her telekinetic powers.

On prom night, Carrie is elected prom queen as part of a rigged scheme by Chris, who, with her boyfriend Billy Nolan, has suspended buckets of pig's blood above the stage. When the buckets are released, drenching Carrie in blood, she snaps. Using her telekinesis, she seals the gym, activates the sprinklers, and causes an electrical fire that destroys the school, killing many students and faculty. She then walks home, causing destruction through the town, and confronts her mother, who stabs her. Carrie stops Margaret's heart with her powers, then kills Chris and Billy by causing their car to crash. Mortally wounded, Carrie dies in a parking lot as Sue Snell, who followed her, experiences Carrie's final moments telepathically. The event, labeled the "Black Prom," results in 440 casualties. The novel ends with a letter from an Appalachian woman about her four-year-old daughter who is beginning to exhibit telekinetic powers.

Background and Writing

King wrote Carrie intending it as a short story for the men's magazine Cavalier, after a friend suggested he write about a female character. He became uncomfortable writing the opening shower scene and, feeling apathetic about the story, threw the first three pages into the trash. His wife, Tabitha King, retrieved them and convinced him to continue. King based the character of Carrie on two girls he knew in high school — one who was abused at school due to her family's poverty, and another who came from a devoutly religious family. The original ending featured Carrie growing demon horns and destroying an airplane; editor Bill Thompson convinced King to rewrite it to be more subtle.

Publication and Reception

Carrie was published with a hardcover print run of 30,000 copies. The paperback edition, published by New American Library in April 1975, sold one million copies in its first year, bolstered by the 1976 film adaptation. The paperback advance of $400,000 (of which King received $200,000) allowed him to quit teaching and become a full-time writer.

The novel received generally positive reviews, with critics praising King's debut as impressive and assured. It is credited, alongside Rosemary's Baby, The Exorcist, and The Other, with reviving mainstream interest in horror literature. Carrie has remained continually in print and has been highly influential among contemporary horror writers.

Style and Themes

Carrie is a horror novel with elements of Gothic and supernatural fiction, and it is in part an epistolary novel, organized through multiple narrators, reports, and excerpts. Thematically, it deals with ostracism, bullying, adolescence, religious fanaticism, vengeance, female sexuality, and the consequences of social nonconformity.

Adaptations

• 1976 film: Directed by Brian De Palma, starring Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie. Critically acclaimed and commercially successful.
• 1988 musical: A Broadway musical adaptation by the Royal Shakespeare Company; it was a notable commercial failure.
• 1999 sequel film: The Rage: Carrie 2.
• 2002 television film: A made-for-TV adaptation.
• 2013 film: A film adaptation starring Chloë Grace Moretz and Julianne Moore.
• 2024: Mike Flanagan was announced as helming a television adaptation for Amazon MGM Studios.

Key Details