Carrie

by Stephen King
First publication:
5 April 1974
Genre: science fiction,
horror, fantasy, thriller
Main characters of the book are:
• Carrie White - the protagonist of the novel who possesses telekinetic powers and
is constantly tormented by her peers.
• Margaret White - Carrie's mother who is deeply religious and abusive towards
her daughter.

Secondary main characters:

• Sue Snell - a popular girl at school who feels remorseful about her role in bullying Carrie
and tries to make amends by asking her boyfriend to take Carrie to prom.
• Tommy Ross - a kind-hearted boy who agrees to take Carrie to prom as a favor to Sue.
• Chris Hargensen - a cruel and vindictive girl who leads the charge against Carrie and sets
up a humiliating prank at prom.
• Billy Nolan - Chris's boyfriend who helps her carry out the prank at prom.
• Ms. Desjardin - Carrie's gym teacher who tries to protect her from the other students.
Side characters:
• Norma Watson - a mean-spirited girl who often joins in on bullying Carrie.
• George Dawson - one of the boys who participates in bullying Carrie.
• Freddy Holt - another boy who bullies Carrie.
• Helen Shyres - one of the girls who participates in bullying Carrie.
• Tommy Erbter - another boy who bullies Carrie.
• Ralph White - Carrie's father who is absent for most of the novel.
 The book tells the story of a teenage girl named Carrie White, who is relentlessly bullied
by her peers and abused by her religious fanatic mother. Carrie is also endowed with
telekinetic powers, which she discovers and learns to control as the story progresses.
The novel begins with a scene of Carrie experiencing her first menstrual period in the high
school showers, where she is mocked and humiliated by her classmates. This event triggers
a series of events that ultimately lead to the book's tragic ending.
Carrie's mother, Margaret White, is a devout Christian who views any kind of pleasure or
self-expression as sinful. She punishes her daughter harshly for any perceived wrongdoing,
and repeatedly tells her that her telekinetic powers are the result of sin and must be
suppressed.
Carrie's life begins to change when she meets Sue Snell, a popular girl who feels guilty for
participating in the shower incident and decides to try to make it up to Carrie by convincing
her boyfriend, Tommy Ross, to take Carrie to the school prom. Although initially reluctant,
Carrie eventually agrees to go, and spends weeks preparing for the event.
Meanwhile, another classmate, Chris Hargensen, is determined to ruin Carrie's prom
night. She and her boyfriend, Billy Nolan, plot to pour a bucket of pig's blood on Carrie as
she is crowned prom queen, hoping to humiliate her in front of the entire school.
When The night of the prom comes, everything seems to be going well for Carrie. She is
enjoying herself and even starts to develop feelings for Tommy. However, when she is
crowned prom queen and the bucket of blood is dumped on her, Carrie's telekinetic powers
are unleashed in a fit of rage.
Carrie uses her powers to exact revenge on her tormentors, killing many of them and
destroying the school in the process. In the end, Carrie is killed by her own mother, who
believes that she is doing God's work by trying to save her daughter's soul.
 The main idea of the novel is that bullying and abuse can have devastating consequences,
particularly when combined with supernatural powers. The novel explores themes of power,
revenge, and the consequences of ignoring the suffering of others.

My favorite part of the book was to see how the teenagers interact between them, and
how they are depicted by the author. The dialogues between them felt genuine, and I
liked especially to follow Sue trying to make it up for the incident in the showers with the
help of Tommy.
There aren’t really any parts of this book that I didn’t like. But if I had to say one thing, it
would be the scene where Chris and Billy set up the bucket with pigs blood in the school,
where the prom will take place. My problem with this part isn’t narrative, but that Stephen
King drags with this scene for a full page long, describing in detail every step the two take
in order to set that bucket with blood, and it doesn’t need to be this long because it’s not
essential to the plot.
Overall, I enjoyed this book a lot, and I would recommend it because it’s a great piece of
fiction, and it can teach you to be more kind to people because you don’t know how much
they struggle.