Carrie (novel)

Carrie is American author Stephen King's first published novel, released in 1974. It revolves around the titular character Carrie, a shy high-school girl, who uses her newly discovered telekinetic powers to exact revenge on those who tease her. 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 United States schools¹ and the film version was banned in Finland. Much of the book is written in an epistolary structure, through newspaper clippings, magazine articles, letters, and excerpts from books.

Publication history

Carrie was actually King's fourth novel² 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. It began as a short story intended for Cavalier magazine, but King tossed the first three pages of his work in the garbage. ³ Of King's published short stories at the time, he recalled,

His wife fished the pages out of the garbage and encouraged him to finish the story; he followed her advice and expanded it into a novel.⁵ King said, "I persisted because I was dry and had no better ideas... my considered opinion was that I had written the world's all-time loser."⁶ The book was dedicated to his wife, Tabitha: "This is for Tabby, who got me into it – and then bailed me out of it."

According to the audio commentary for the film version of Carrie, Carrie is based on a composite of two girls who were bullied and abused at school; one who went to school with him, and one who was his student. The young girl King went to school with lived down the street from him in Durham, Maine. In an interview with Charles L. Grant for Twilight Zone Magazine in April 1981, King recalled that,

King says he wondered what it would have been like to have been reared by such a mother, and based the story itself on a reversal of the Cinderella fairy tale. He also told biographer George Beahm that the girl later "married a man who was as odd as her, had kids, and eventually killed herself."⁷

Carrie’s telekinesis resulted from King’s earlier reading about this topic. King also did a short stint as a high school English teacher at Hampden Academy, a job he eventually quit after receiving the payment for the paperback publishing sale of Carrie.

At the time of publication, King was working as a teacher at Hampden Academy and barely making ends meet. 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."⁷ It has been presumed that King drew inspiration from his time as a teacher.⁷ New American Library bought the paperback rights for $400,000, which, according to King's contract with Doubleday, was split between them.⁸ King eventually quit the teaching job after receiving the publishing payment. The hardback sold a mere 13,000 copies, the paperback, released a year later, sold over 1 million copies in its first year.

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."⁹ 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."

Plot summary

The book uses fictional documents, such as book excerpts, news reports, and hearing transcripts, to frame the story of Carietta "Carrie" White, a 17-year-old girl from Chamberlain, Maine. Carrie's mother, Margaret, a fanatical Christian fundamentalist, has a vindictive and unstable personality, and over the years has ruled Carrie with an iron rod and repeated threats of damnation, as well as occasional physical abuse. Carrie does not fare much better at her school where her frumpy looks, lack of friends and lack of popularity with boys make her the butt of ridicule, embarrassment, and public humiliation by her fellow teenage peers.

At the beginning of the novel, Carrie has her first period while showering after a physical education class. Carrie, terrified, has no understanding of menstruation as her mother never told her about it. Her classmates use the event as an opportunity to humiliate her. Led by Chris Hargensen, they throw tampons and sanitary napkins at her. When gym teacher Miss Desjardin happens upon the scene, she at first berates Carrie for her stupidity but is horrified when she realizes that Carrie has no idea what has happened to her. She helps her clean up and tries to explain. Carrie's mother shows no sympathy for her first encounter with what she calls "the woman's curse."

Miss Desjardin, still incensed over the locker room incident and ashamed at her initial disgust with Carrie, wants all the girls who made fun of Carrie suspended and banned from attending the school prom, but the principal instead punishes the girls by giving them several detentions. When Chris, after an altercation with Miss Desjardin, refuses to appear for the detention, she is suspended and barred from the prom and tries to get her father, a prominent local lawyer, to intimidate the school principal into reinstating her privileges.

Carrie gradually discovers her telekinetic powers, which she has apparently possessed since birth, but had not had conscious control over after her infancy, though she remembers several incidents from throughout her life. Carrie practices her powers in secret, developing strength, and also finds that she is somewhat telepathic.

Meanwhile, Sue Snell, another popular girl who had earlier laughed at Carrie, begins to feel remorseful about her participation in the locker room antics. With the prom fast approaching, Sue convinces her boyfriend, Tommy Ross, one of the most popular boys in the school, to ask Carrie to the prom. Carrie is suspicious but accepts, and makes a red velvet gown. Carrie's mother won't hear of her daughter doing anything so "carnal" as attending a school dance, as she believes that sex in any form is sinful, even after marriage. She also reveals that she knows about Carrie's telekinetic powers, which she considers a form of witchcraft – it seems that they appear every third generation in her family. Carrie, however, is tired of hearing that everything is a sin. She wants a normal life and sees the prom as a new beginning.

The prom initially goes well for Carrie. Tommy's friends are welcoming and Tommy finds himself attracted towards her. Chris Hargenson, still furious, devises her plan with her boyfriend Billy to humiliate Carrie —they fill a bucket full of pig's blood and suspend it over the stage. They rig Carrie's election as prom queen and Billy dumps the pigs blood on Carrie's head. Tommy is knocked unconscious by the bucket and dies within minutes, and Carrie is soaked in pigs blood. Nearly everyone in attendance, even the teachers, begin pointing, and laughing at Carrie, and taking pictures for the yearbook, and school paper. Carrie is finally pushed over the edge. She leaves the building in agonized humiliation, remembers her telekinesis, and decides to use it for vengeance. Initially planning only to lock all the doors and turn on the sprinklers, Carrie remembers the electrical equipment set up for the sound system—but turns the sprinklers on anyway. Watching through the windows, she witnesses the deaths of two students and a school official by electrocution, and decides to kill everyone, causing a massive fire that destroys the school and traps almost everyone inside.

Walking home, she burns almost all of downtown Chamberlain by breaking power lines and exploding gas stations. A side-effect of her telekinesis is "broadcast" telepathy, which causes the city's inhabitants to become aware that the carnage was caused by Carrie White, even if they do not know who she is. Carrie returns home to confront her mother, who believes Carrie has been possessed by Satan and that the only way to save her is to kill her. Revealing that Carrie's conception was a result of what may have been marital rape (although she admits she enjoyed the sex), she stabs Carrie in the shoulder with a kitchen knife, but Carrie kills her mother by stopping her heart.

Mortally wounded but still alive, Carrie makes her way to a roadhouse where she sees Chris and Billy leaving. After Billy attempts to run her over, she telekinetically takes control of the vehicle and wrecks the car, killing them both. Sue Snell, who has been following Carrie's telepathic "broadcast," finds Carrie collapsed in the parking lot. The two have a brief telepathic conversation. Though Carrie had believed that Sue and Tommy had set her up for the prank, Carrie realizes that Sue is innocent and has never really felt a real urge to humiliate her. Carrie then forgives Sue, and dies.

Adaptations

References

^ "The 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990–2000". www.ala.org. American Library Association. Retrieved on 2008-07-22.
^ "I had written three other novels before Carrie..." King, Stephen, (2000) On Writing. Scribner Books. p. 77
^ "I did three single-spaced pages of a first draft, then crumpled them up in disgust and threw them away." King, Stephen. (2000) On Writing. Scribner Books. p. 76
^ "Stephen King: 'I Like to go for the Jugular'" Grant, Charles L. Twilight Zone Magazine vol 1 no 1 April 1981
^ Introduction to "Carrie" (Collector's Edition) King, Tabitha Plume 1991
^ King, Stephen (February 1980), "On Becoming a Brand Name", Adelina Magazine: 44
^ ^a ^b ^c Beahm, George (1998-09-01). Stephen King From A to Z: An Encyclopedia of His Life and Work. Kansas City: Andrews McMeel Pub.. ISBN 0836269144.
^ "The Stephen King Companion" Beahm, George Andrews McMeel press 1989 pp. 171-173
^ "From Textbook to Checkbook" Wells, Robert W. Milwaukee Journal Sep 15, 1980
^ "DVD Review: Carrie". blogcritics.org. Blogcritics Magazine (2006-05-01). Retrieved on 2008-07-22.
^ Wood, Rocky. "Eric Jackson Interview". horrorking.com. Retrieved on 2008-02-27.

Contents

Publication history

Plot summary

Adaptations

References

External links