The Breakdown
The Who
Carrietta White, known as Carrie.
The Others
Her mother Margaret White, classmastes Sue Snell, Tommy Ross, Chris Hargensen and Billy Nolan.
The Where
Chamberlain, a fictional town in Maine.
The When
The novel is written in 1974, but the novel is set in primarily of the then-future of 1979.
The Need to Know
Stephen King’s debut novel quickly became a chilling classic. In addition to classic horror elements with blood and gore, the novel explores themes of fundamentalism, alienation and bends reality with Carrie’s supernatural abilities of telekinesis – the ability to move things with her mind.
The First & Second Glance
First Glance
At first glance Carrie is a novel about revenge, as Carrie carries out her revenge on the classmates that have tormented her all her life, but have now taken it too far.
Second Glance
On the second glance it becomes apparent that Carrie is more than a revenge novel and more than the horror classic one might expect. Carrie lets her wrath rain on her hometown in terrifying images. But it is also a portrait of a girl raised and abused by a fanatic mother. Under her mother’ influence Carrie misses critical pieces of information about growing up, making her an easy target for her peers.
Through poignant scenes Carrie emerges as a novel about alienation and loneliness, and the gruesome consequences it can have. Clearly, Carrie has a supernatural element in that Carrie has telekinetic abilities, yet her actions are rooted in very human impulses of wanting to belong and be understood. Thus Carrie is able to nuance Carrie’s actions without making excuses for the very real harm she caused.
About
Carrie follows the events before and during the fatal Prom night of Chamberlane, Maine in the early summer of 1979.
Carrietta White goes by Carrie. She lives with her mother in the White Bungalow (to call it the White House sounds presumptuous). Her father is dead, their only company is the giant plaster Jesus on the living room wall watching their every move.
At the beginning of the novel it is revealed that Carrie has telekinetic powers and made it rain stones at the White Bungalow at age three. Carrie’s mother is a religious fundamentalist who believes Carrie is possessed and continues to lock her up in a closet to pray throughout her childhood. Margaret's religious beliefs isolate the two of them, and are instrumental in alienating Carrie from her classmates.
Even as she starts school, Carrie’s way sets her apart from her classmates. From the start she becomes the victim of their pranks, the eternal butt of their jokes.
Why Fall?
Fall, especially October, has become synonymous with stories of the scary and paranormal. October is the season when fall really sets in, foliage falls and covers the ground, leaving the trees bare. The sun sets earlier and earlier, the temperature drops.
One of Octobers connections to the supernatural is perhaps Halloween, along with the following All Saints’ Day.
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