History Literature / Carrie

* LightFeminineAndDarkFeminine: Sue Snell and Chris Hargensen, respectively. Best examplifed on their feelings for Carrie White: Sue is an InnocentBetaBitch who spends most of the novel trying to make Carrie feel better about herself and feels great guilt after the infamous Black Prom. Chris, meanwhile, is the [[AloofDarkHairedGirl aloof]] AlphaBitch who has a long detention record and is the one that pulls the nasty prank on Carrie on prom night. Coincidentally, their boyfriends fit the [[NobleMaleRoguishMale Spear Counterpart]] of this trope as shown below.

[[caption-width-right:300: Carrie White -- making people afraid to pick on "that girl" since 1974.]]

** Chris's dad is a powerful attorney; while most stories treat these kind of men like they are magical wizards that can wave a wand and dispel any charges against their client, he has to back down from his threat to sue the school over Chris's punishment when the school reveals her long list of transgressions. Her actions are bad enough in scale and scope that he not only cannot defend her completely in court, but she would end up in jail if it was brought to the court's attention.

* AssholeVictim: Nearly everyone save Sue Snell (who survives). The famous scene where Carrie kills everyone at the prom is supposed to be deliberately horrifying in the book and film, but the effect is [[NightmareRetardant nullified somewhat]] when you are cheering her on. Carrie's date started out this way, but by the time the prom rolled around, he had actually grown to like her. Pity she never found that out...

* Lawrence D. Cohen (the writer of the 1976 movie) put together the [[Theatre/{{Carrie}} musical adaptation]] in TheEighties. After a limited run at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in England that got a mixed reception, it debuted on Broadway on May 12, 1988 -- where it met with scathing reviews. The $7+ million production quickly became one of the biggest flops in Broadway history, as the musical closed after only sixteen previews and five shows. It became infamous enough to inspire a book written about Broadway's worst to carry the title ''Not Since Carrie''. A number of people, however, saw a lot of [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot potential]] beneath the poor production and feel that it could've worked out if it had received some polish. A heavily overhauled, off-Broadway revival [[http://www.carrieinla.com/history.html eventually happened]]. Fun fact - the original Broadway run had Margaret White played by Creator/BettyBuckley - who had starred in the 1976 film as the gym teacher.

* GenderRestrictedAbility: Telekinesis seems to be this way, considering Carrie, Margaret's grandmother, and Amelia Jenk's daughter Annie are all female.

-->"There were no more AP reports from Chamberlain. At 12:06 AM, a Jackson Avenue gas main was opened. At 12:17, an ambulance attendant from Motton tossed out a cigarette butt as the rescue vehicle sped towards Summer Street. The explosion destroyed nearly half a block at a stroke, including the offices of the Chamberlain ''Clarion''. By 12:18 AM, Chamberlain was cut off from the country that slept in reason beyond."

--> "Like the Flatlands Society, the Rosicrucians, or the Corlies of Arizona, who are positive that the atomic bomb does not work, these unfortunates are flying in the face of logic with their heads in the sand- and beg your pardon for the mixed metaphor."

* WrongBathroomIncident: Creator/StephenKing was inspired by an incident when he was working as a high school custodian. He once found himself cleaning the girls' shower room (empty at the time) and was bemused to finally enter the space and notice things like shower curtains and pad dispensers. He idly wondered what would happen if, say, a student got her period and was harassed by her classmates, and also thought of an article he'd read about telekinesis...

** Carrie has a sharp sense of humor that few are aware of. She thinks that the euphemistic expression for menstruation "time of the month" sounds like the name of a quiz show and compares Tina and Norma in their supposedly chic black prom dresses to a couple of old-movie cigarette girls. She also shuts down Norma's passive-aggressive compliments by telling her she's "Don McLean's secret lover."

* CreatorCameo: Carrie's 7th Grade English teacher is called Edwin King; Edwin is Stephen King's middle name.

* OffingTheOffspring: Margaret White tries to kill Carrie when Carrie comes home from prom. Before that, she nearly murders an infant Carrie after seeing her levitate a bottle.

* SingleGirlSeeksMostPopularGuy: {{Deconstruct|ion}}ed. Carrie actually isn't very interested in Tommy, and at first, thinks that the only reason he's even talking to her is because of a joke. It takes a lot of convincing on Tommy's part for her to even consider going to the prom with him.

* UnstoppableRage:
** Carrie finally snaps after Chris pushes her one time too many at the prom, and although she spends a lot of the time in TranquilFury, there's no mistaking that ''she wants blood''.
** [[spoiler:Margaret's death]] is also amped up in the film versions. In the novel (and in the musical), [[spoiler:Carrie uses her powers to stop Margaret's heart. In the film versions, except the 2002 remake, she stabs and crucifies her with sharp kitchen utensils]].

* KickTheSonOfABitch: Carrie attacking the boy on the bicycle for attempting to scare her.

* NotSoDifferent: Miss Desjardins admits she understands how Carrie's classmates felt when they taunted Carrie in the shower, speculating that "menstruation makes women want to snarl."

* AccuserOfTheBrethren: Why Chris and Sue have their falling out in every adaption, Sue changes, Chris does not. If anything she gets far more evil than a standard AlphaBitch.

* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: The titular Carrie herself, shy, awkward, and totally naive to things as universally known as a woman's period. This is due almost entirely to her being raised by her zealous mother--as a child, the lessons Carrie's mother put into her head made her judge the other kids her age unfairly, and even though she's outgrown that as a teenager, she still has no idea how to act with other people. Needless to say, very few people have a nice word to say about her.

* ArcSymbol: Blood, as a representation of power, violence and death.

* BallroomBlitz: Following the prank, Carrie's..[[{{Understatement}} reaction]] begins at the prom in the gym and spreads. It doesn't take long before the entire "ballroom" is a mess of blood and fire.

** Sue panics that she's going to end up as a StepfordSmiler suburban wife, possibly to Tommy, which is partly why she stands up for Carrie. So she gets Tommy to go to the prom...and she'll ''never'' be a StepfordSmiler again.
** Carrie's worst nightmare before prom is that she'll have to go back to living with Margaret, gaining weight and getting lonelier and lonelier. The prom doesn't just [[spoiler:kill Carrie ''and'' Margaret, it also burns down most of Chamberlain.]]

* BigBadEnsemble: Margaret White and the Chris/Billy couple--though Margaret and the teen lovers never meet one another, they all serve as the book's main antagonists and the main sources of Carrie's troubles.
* BitchInSheepsClothing: Discussed by Sue Snell at one point. She claims bad people don't get better, they just get better at hiding their true colors.

** [[AlphaBitch Chris]] and the rest of Carrie's {{Jerkass}} classmates didn't know what she was capable of until it was far too late. [[MyBelovedSmother Her mother]], on the other hand, did know... and not only kept right on treating her in the same old way, but actually treated her ''worse'', calling her a witch. In the novel, it's mentioned that Margaret's grandmother had the same talent, and Margaret knew about it.
** In the book, there is a flashback from Margaret, involving her own grandmother (Carrie's great-grandmother). The woman would display her telekinesis and cackle madly. She'd also gone completely senile at an early age before dying of a heart attack. It's shown that she was a pretty frightening figure for Margaret to grow up with, which is probably why she ended up being a crazy religious fanatic. It's subtle but gives her a very slight WellIntentionedExtremist view.
* CallousnessTowardsEmergency: ''Everyone'' in the gymnasium laughs at Tommy getting hit with the metal bucket due to the cartoonish sound-effect it creates. This is only [[AvertedTrope averted]] after Josie from the band playing at the Prom yells for someone to call an ambulance, and Norma narrates that everyone realized Tommy might be a goner.

** Also, depending on how literally one wants to take it, Margaret White is said to have "fought the Black Man", which could also be said as "The Dark Man". Did she have an encounter with [[Literature/TheStand Randall Flagg]], and could this be what drove her so insane? More likely however is that 'The Black Man' might refer to Creator/HPLovecraft's Nyarlathotep, who is specifically called 'The Black Man' in "The Dreams in the Witch House".

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Carrie kills her mother at the end, then dies from a combination of overuse of her power and her own injuries]]. This ends up killing the town as well, owing to how many people died. Also, the few survivors appear to be traumatized, especially Sue. She's made the scapegoat along with Tommy, who is dead and can't defend himself. To top it off, nobody actually learns anything, with the press portraying Carrie's victims as TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth while omitting any mention of how they drove Carrie over the edge. Sue, for what it's worth, maintains her innocence and writes a book about what happened. The investigators also deem her and Tommy innocent when evidence reveals that Chris and Billy were the ones actually responsible.

* FemaleMisogynist: Margaret White - the evils of women and female sexuality is one of her favorite subjects. She's so against sexuality, in fact, that she thought that sex with her own husband was sinful. It's implied that this comes, in part, from troubled relationships with her own mother and grandmother.

* FictionIsntFair: Carrie may be sympathetic, but the prank, being laughed at, and losing her mother all in one night takes away all her sanity and turns her into a monster. Even her happiest ending (the 2013) film is only such because she seems a little at peace dying with her mother.

* FlatEarthAtheist: Mention is made of how the "Carrie White affair" and proof of the existence of psychic powers has affected the scientific community's long-held preconceptions. While most scientists have accepted this new reality, it's mentioned that those at Duke University, among others, continue to reject it as a hoax even after the government's official report on what happened supported their existence.[[note]]Ironically, in real life Duke was a [[https://archives.lib.duke.edu/catalog/paralab major center]] of parapsychology research into psychic powers and similar phenomena in the 20th century. The [[https://www.rhineonline.org/ Rhine Research Center,]] the modern heir to the Duke Parapsychology Laboratory, is still based there.[[/note]]

* FreakOut: Carrie's--after the prank and being laughed at and humiliated--is one that kills a lot of people and leaves the entire world dumbfounded.
* TheFreelanceShameSquad

** An interview with one of the survivors of the whole thing reveals that it was one of those situations where it was either laugh, cry or go crazy. Some people in RealLife [[{{Corpsing}} tend to laugh in awkward situations]]. Combine contagious laughter and mob psychology and you get one horrible situation all around.

* GoneHorriblyRight: Chris' plan. She did humiliate Carrie just as she wanted, but it kicks off a FreakOut that would later result in dozens of people--including herself--being killed and traumatized. It also ruins her reputation posthumously, as the survivors write books painting her -- perhaps rightfully-- as the instigator.

* HopeSpot: The ''whole story'' is like one giant hope spot due to the ForegoneConclusion osmosis of the narrative. You know Carrie has powers, you know Chris is setting up a cruel prank, you know it's going to set her off and end horribly for everyone. But.. she looks so ''happy'' for the first time ever. And ''she'' thinks her fantasies about independence and a normal life really might come true.

* KarmicDeath: For Carrie's bullies themselves at the end, [[spoiler:especially Billy and Chris. Years of their bullying and tormenting leads to them being painfully and horribly killed in Carrie's rampage.]] Carrie also lampshades that she's doing this to [[spoiler:Margaret]].

* LackOfEmpathy: Chris and her minions couldn't care less about how rotten they made Carrie feel, [[spoiler: resulting in their demises]]. Billy is an even more extreme example, since he's obsessed over wrecking Carrie's prom night even more than Chris is, despite the fact that he doesn't even know her.

** When Chris's father threatens to sue the school, the principal gives a ridiculously long list of all of the horrible things Chris has done to unpopular/outcast students (and she skipped her punishments for all of them)
* LonelyAtTheTop: Sue and Tommy don't seem to enjoy their popularity. Sue is acutely aware of the price she's paying for it, while Tommy seems to feel that his popularity is superficial and won't last after graduation. This may be part of the appeal of befriending Carrie- she's the one person who would like him for who he is, not just because he's popular.

** "if the eye doth offend thee, pluck it out" for Margaret after Carrie disobeys her and goes to prom, and [[spoiler:Margaret plans to kill her.]]

** In the book [[spoiler:a dying]] Carrie tries to do this to Sue, angry about the prank that she thought Sue had pulled on her... only to find that Sue meant her no harm, and that she hadn't planned to humiliate her at the prom. Also, several people who survived Carrie's rampage had her presence and identity essentially stamped into their minds, even though most of them had never met her and many never saw her that night.

** Chris is the most notorious character in this story who relishes this trope. She’s punished for bullying Carrie with detention, but because she refused to come, she’s suspended and banned from attending the prom, yet she swears vengeance against Carrie for all the punishments she rightfully deserved. Sue calls her out on this and asks her what Carrie ever do to her, but Chris coldly brushes it off by blaming Carrie over her mother’s fanatical beliefs.

* OffingTheOffspring: Margaret White tries to kill Carrie when Carrie comes home from prom. Before that she nearly murders an infant Carrie after seeing her levitate a bottle.

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Chris's father actually comes down on her when she's caught at a drug bust and she mouths off to him, though he only does it because [[ItsAllAboutMe he feels she's putting his reputation at risk.]]
* PayEvilUntoEvil: Carrie and her prom rampage, especially with her murder of [[spoiler:Chris and her boyfriend, Billy.]]

* PrankDate: Subverted. Carrie thought this was the case when Tommy asked her to the prom. However, he had benign intentions, as did his girlfriend Sue, who arranged for him to take Carrie to the prom instead of her due to her feeling sorry for joining in on Carrie's humiliation in the shower. Chris found out, though, and she wanted to make sure it went very badly. [[GoneHorriblyRight And it did]].

* RashomonStyle: Some of the books and articles coming out from the survivor or investigators' perspectives has this while the central narrative shows what actually happened. For example, there is quibbling on who laughed at Carrie when the pig's blood fell: Norma, one of the survivors, says that everyone laughed at Carrie because the only other option was to cry and feel sorry for her, and no one had done that for years. Sue in her memoirs emphasized that Chris and Billy were the only ones with malicious intent. Carrie sees Miss Desjardin trying to help her while also laughing, and peeks into her thoughts, seeing that her gym teacher pitied her with disgust rather than actual sympathy. This sets her off as she tries to kill everyone in the vicinity, and the town to boot.
* RayOfHopeEnding: In the epilogue, there is a letter from one Amelia Jenkins who [[spoiler: says her 2-year-old daughter Annie has PsychicPowers as well. There's a common fan theory that Annie is Carrie reincarnated, as she is described in very similar terms. If this is the case, then she will [[EarnYourHappyEnding probably have a happy life this time around,]] since her parents actually love her, and will likely use her PsychicPowers for good when she's older.]]

* {{Reincarnation}}: Implied [[spoiler: sometime after Carrie dies, an Appalachian girl is born with similar powers, but it seems the same tragedy will not befall upon her because she lives with a loving mother who supports her and does not consider her "wild talent" to be a source of evil. The girl also is described as looking suspiciously similar to Carrie's little girl self.]]

** The [[Theatre/{{Carrie}} musical.]] As detailed above, it has become a byword for disastrous Broadway flops.
** ''Scarrie!'' the musical parody.

* SexualKarma: {{Inverted|Trope}}. Tommy and Sue are more sympathetic, and TheirFirstTime they do it is painful for Sue - only getting better after a couple of times. Billy and Chris however are the villains, and Billy essentially rapes Chris for TheirFirstTime - and [[SexIsViolence she loves it]]. It's also said that Margaret White [[NotIfTheyEnjoyedItRationalization enjoyed when Ralph raped her, although she was still unhappy about it]].

* ShootTheShaggyDog: Near the end, Sue notes that she's missed a period and this could mean she's pregnant with Tommy's baby (and after he dies at the prom, this means she might have SomeoneToRememberHimBy). After Carrie dies, Sue gets her period. Either she was late and got her hopes up for nothing, or the experience of letting Carrie into her mind made her miscarry. [[spoiler:The 2013 film spares the baby and ends with Sue giving birth]].

* StockShoutOut: Has a [[ReferencedBy/{{Carrie}} page full.]]

** Chris's dad is a powerful attorney, while most stories treat these kind of men like they are magical wizards that can wave a wand and dispel any charges against their client, he has to back down from his threat to sue the school over Chris's punishment when the school reveals her long list of transgressions. Her actions are bad enough in scale and scope that he not only cannot defend her completely in court, but she would end up in jail if it was brought to the court's attention.

* TapOnTheHead: Averted. A bucket filled with cold pig blood hits Tommy instead of coating him as well. Sadly, AmusingInjuries has no place in a Stephen King novel, [[spoiler: as he is killed on impact. To add insult to injury, public opinion vilifies him in death, when he can't even defend himself. Sue takes great offense to this.]]
* TeensAreMonsters: All the girls in the locker room, but particularly Chris, who is the mastermind behind the pig-blood prank. (Sue, however, quickly regrets her part in the taunting of Carrie). Billy is a monster as well. And of course, there's Carrie...

* TranquilFury: Averted in the book. Carrie quite gleefully enjoys the carnage she causes. Played straight in all film adaptations but especially the De Palma film.

** Carrie finally snaps after Chris pushes her one time too many at the prom and although she spends a lot of the time in TranquilFury, there's no mistaking that ''she wants blood''.
** [[spoiler:Margaret's death]] is also amped up in the film versions. In the novel (and in the musical), [[spoiler:Carrie uses her powers to stop Margaret's heart. In the film versions, except the 2002 remake, she stabs and crucifies her with sharp kitchen utensils.]]

* VillainProtagonist: Carrie. More precisely she's a [[SlidingScaleOfAntiVillains Woobie Anti-Villain]], starting off sympathetic but turning into a revenge-seeking monster by the book's end.
* VillainsOutShopping: There's a scene featuring the normally monstrous Margaret happily doing some ironing and listening to one of her favorite records. It's...off-putting, to say the least.
* VoteEarlyVoteOften: In all film versions this is how Chris gets Carrie to win by getting her sidekick to switch the ballots. In the book, Chris merely does some promoting amongst her clique but Carrie and Tommy only win by one vote. Chris also mentions that she "set it up" so Carrie would win, but we don't see how.

* WorldOfJerkass: [[ExaggeratedTrope Everyone]] except Carrie, Sue, (eventually), Tommy, and a few minor characters are jerks. Even Ms.Desjardin turns out to be more of a BitchInSheepsClothing than the CoolTeacher she seems to be.
* WritersCannotDoMath: In the novel we are told that Carrie is 16 years old, and an excerpt from Sue's book says Carrie was 17. But Carrie was born in September 1963 and the book takes place in May 1979, which would actually make Carrie 15, her 16th birthday still four months away. And of course, being a high school senior she should be at least 17. Margaret also mentions that she tried to murder Carrie when she was a baby, but Ralph stopped her. That must have been quite a feat, considering he had ''already died'' before Carrie was born[[note]]Given Margaret's general lack of mental stability, Ralph's intervention could arguably have been her hallucination, not an author timeline error[[/note]].
* XanatosRoulette: Billy mentions that there's a chance that someone will go up into the rafters (where the stage props are kept) and discover the buckets, but considers it "an acceptable risk." He also says that while Chris has told him Carrie and Tommy will win, he's not sure it will happen, but he doesn't care because he'd just as gladly dump the blood on anyone else.
* YankTheDogsChain: A particularly horrifying case that goes even more horribly wrong. On prom night, Carrie is actually having fun, feels beautiful, is being crowned prom queen with NiceGuy Tommy...and then she's dumped in pig's blood, Tommy is killed, and everyone starts laughing at her.

* GenderRestrictedAbility: Telekinesis seems to be this way, considering Carrie, Margaret's grandmother, and Amelia's daughter are all female.

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: The principal, who stands up for Carrie and shuts down the lawsuit threat from Chris's father. He's also concerned that Chris is going to pull something at the prom, and takes responsibility for not being able to prevent it. Ms. Desjardin is this for the most part, although initially she found Carrie annoying.

* TheEndOrIsIt: In contrast to all of the adaptations, the novel ends with a letter written by a Tennessee woman called Amelia Jenks describing the telekinetic powers of her two-year-old daughter Annie, who can make marbles move by themselves. Fortunately, she's more sensible about it, although she is worried that means Annie taking after her own Grandma means she'll suffer heart trouble later on. The letter and the novel's final words "I bet she'll be a worldbeeter [sic] someday."]

** Carrie has a sharp sense of humor that few are aware of. She thinks that the euphemistic expression for menstruation "time of the month" sounds like the name of a quiz show and compares Tina and Norma in their supposedly chic black prom dresses to a couple of old-movie cigarette girls. She also shuts down Norma's passive-aggressive compliments about how surprised she is by how pretty Carrie looks by telling her that she's "Don McLean's secret lover."

* {{Hypocrite}}: Sue states in her memoir that everyone involved in the disaster acted as they did because "we were kids." The very next scene shows that she actually doesn't believe this, as she rejects it when Tommy says the same thing and says that people like Chris will never grow up or take responsibility for their actions. Either that or she thinks it only excuses her own actions and not anyone else's.

* LackOfEmpathy: The girls couldn't care less about how rotten they made Carrie feel, [[spoiler: resulting in their demises]]. Billy is an even more extreme example, since he's obsessed over wrecking Carrie's prom night even more than Chris is, despite the fact that he doesn't even know her.

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: The principal, who stands up for Carrie and shuts down the lawsuit threat from Chris's father. He's also concerned that Chris is going to pull something at the prom, and takes responsibility for not being able to prevent it. Ms. Desjardin tries to be this, but she secretly finds Carrie annoying to deal with and can't help laughing at the prank.