Previous
Summary
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Carrie, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Puberty, Adolescence, and Coming of Age
Female Sexuality and Shame
Conformity vs. Ostracization
Cycles of Abuse
Sin vs. Atonement
Summary
Analysis
In 1966, a local newspaper reports an unusual phenomenon: stones falling from the sky in the town of Chamberlain, Maine. The paper reports that the stones primarily fell onto the house of Margaret White, a widow with a three-year-old girl named Carietta (“Carrie”), but that Margaret could not be reached for comment. In the present day, Carrie is in high school and has been facing bullying from her peers for her entire life. However, what none of Carrie’s tormenters realize is that she’s telekinetic.
The opening to Carrie establishes the main tension of the novel. The opening newspaper clipping introduces a mysterious phenomenon, and then the novel’s proper introduction explains it: the falling stones were caused by Carrie’s telekinetic powers. This transition establishes that Carrie, despite being bullied at school, holds the potential for immense power.
Themes
One day at Ewen High School, female students, including Carrie, are showering after gym class. Carrie, who is overweight and suffers from acne, self-consciously showers while the other girls chat. Their teacher Miss Desjardin comes in and orders Carrie to finish showering since class will end soon, so Carrie turns off the water, which reveals that she has blood running down her leg. The scene ends with an excerpt from a scholarly article called The Shadow Exploded: Documented Facts and Specific Conclusions Derived from the Case of Carrie White, in which Professor David R. Congress asserts that telekinesis only emerges in moments of great stress—and that Carrie was a prime case study for this.
As the novel moves into its first scene, King continues to juxtapose Carrie’s life with epistolary snippets that expand readers’ understanding of what she’s going through. Although the image of Carrie menstruating in a shower is mundane on its face, the excerpt from a scholarly article, in which Carrie is the subject, subtly establishes that this seemingly normal moment will ultimately cause something much more dramatic in the end.
Themes
Back in the locker room, the other girls notice that Carrie is bleeding and begin to chant “period” at her. Carrie, unaware that her period has begun, stares in confusion. Sue Snell, one of the girls, yells at Carrie to clean herself up and tells her that she’s bleeding. When Carrie notices the blood, she screams. The girls respond by throwing tampons and pads at Carrie, chanting “plug it up” at her. Carrie screams and backs into the shower. Sue thinks of all of the dirty tricks and bullying that have been inflicted on Carrie, who has always been an outcast. The girls fall silent as they watch Carrie panic, and Sue says that she thinks this is Carrie’s first period. Miss Desjardin then storms in.
The cruelty in this scene turns something as banal as a menstrual period into a moment of horror. Carrie, bleeding and naked, is deeply vulnerable in front of the girls who have made her existence miserable for years. The stark imagery of this scene illustrates just how alienated Carrie is from her peers—and Sue’s realization that Carrie is having her first period at age 16, and that she seems to have no idea what menstruation even is, further establishes Carrie as unusual, with even her own body making it difficult for her to fit in with others.
Themes
An excerpt from The Shadow Exploded speculates that Carrie’s traumatic first period may have provided the impetus for her telekinetic powers, particularly because Carrie, at age 16, did not even know what a period was. Back in the locker room, Miss Desjardin has dismissed the other girls. She slaps Carrie to snap her out of her hysteria, but Carrie screams that she’s bleeding to death and grabs at Miss Desjardin, leaving a bloody handprint on her white shorts. Miss Desjardin furiously makes Carrie stand up and retrieve a pad, chastising her for acting like she’s never had a period before. When Carrie responds with confusion, Miss Desjardin realizes it is Carrie’s first period. A lightbulb pops overhead, and Miss Desjardin muses that these things seem to happen whenever Carrie is upset. She then takes a pad and begins to show Carrie how to use it.
Miss Desjardin’s interaction with Carrie is similar to the girls in her class: she first responds with disdain, then realizes how helpless Carrie really is. This shows how many people at Ewen default to feeling contempt for Carrie before even taking time to understand where she’s coming from. This scene is also the second time Carrie’s telekinesis appears on the page, with the lightbulb bursting from her stress. This supports the excerpt from The Shadow Exploded that links Carrie’s telekinesis with increased psychological stress—something she clearly suffers a great deal of.
Themes
Get the entire Carrie LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Shadow Exploded outlines Carrie’s birth in September of 1963. In February of that year, Carrie’s father Ralph was killed in a work accident. Carrie’s mother Margaret was left alone until September 21, when police were called to her house after neighbors heard prolonged screaming and discovered that she had delivered a baby. Professor Congress believes that she was in complete denial about her pregnancy, as she refused to believe she had committed the “sin” of sex.
The disturbing story of Carrie’s birth shows how her life has been traumatic since it began. It also illustrates just how intense Margaret’s religious beliefs are, showing that she is so ashamed of her sexuality that she refuses to believe that she is pregnant. Thus, much like Carrie’s period, this normal part of having a woman’s body becomes a horrific experience.
Themes
Miss Desjardin takes Carrie up to see assistant principal Mr. Morton. Miss Desjardin asks for Carrie to be dismissed for the day as Carrie sits crying. When Mr. Morton gives Carrie her dismissal slip, he calls her “Cassie,” which causes her to angrily correct him. A moment later, Mr. Morton’s ashtray topples onto the floor. After Carrie goes home, Mr. Morton cleans up his ashtray and Miss Desjardin tells him what happened, much to his bemusement. When he finds out that Carrie is Margaret’s daughter, he’s unsurprised by her lack of knowledge about menstruation, given Margaret’s reputation as a religious fanatic. Miss Desjardin tells him about the other girls’ behavior, mentioning that the ringleader was Chris Hargensen, a known troublemaker. Miss Desjardin shamefully admits that she understood the girls’ malice towards Carrie, but she still commits to punishing them.
Mr. Morton’s inability to remember Carrie’s name further shows how overlooked and isolated she is at her school. The incident with the ashtray also strengthens the link between Carrie feeling mistreated and an outburst of her telekinetic powers. Mr. Morton’s comments about Margaret suggest that Carrie’s status of an outcast is actually to be expected, given Carrie’s home life. Additionally, Margaret’s fundamentalist beliefs have contributed greatly towards Carrie being ostracized at school, particularly since Margaret’s shame about femaleness has kept her from teaching Carrie basic facts of puberty such as menstruation.
Themes
