Carrie (1974) is Stephen King's first published novel. 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 U.S. schools ^[1] and the film version was banned in Finland. Much of the book is written in epistolary structure in the form of newspaper clippings, letters, excerpts from books, etc. Brian De Palma created a film version in 1976. Image File history File linksMetadata Carrienovel. ... Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of over 200 stories including over 50 bestselling horror novels. ... For other uses, see Country (disambiguation). ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... “Horror story” redirects here. ... A publisher is a person or entity which engages in the act of publishing. ... Doubleday is one of the largest book publishing companies in the world. ... See also: 1973 in literature, other events of 1974, 1975 in literature, list of years in literature. ... Hardcover books A hardcover (or hardback or hardbound) is a book bound with rigid protective covers (typically of cardboard covered with cloth, heavy paper, or sometimes leather). ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... “ISBN” redirects here. ... Salems Lot is a horror novel by Stephen King, written in 1975. ... Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of over 200 stories including over 50 bestselling horror novels. ... This article is about the literary concept. ... Motto: (Out Of Many, One) (traditional) In God We Trust (1956 to date) Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington D.C. Largest city New York City None at federal level (English de facto) Government Federal constitutional republic  - President George Walker Bush (R)  - Vice President Dick Cheney (R) Independence from... Titlepage of Aphra Behns Love-Letters (1684) An epistolary novel is a novel written as a series of documents. ... Brian De Palma (born Brian Russell DePalma on September 11, 1940 in Newark, New Jersey) is a controversial American film director, best known for directing the Al Pacino classic Scarface, and the Academy Award-winning The Untouchables. ... Carrie is a 1976 American horror film directed by Brian De Palma based on the novel by Stephen King, with a screenplay written by Lawrence D. Cohen. ...

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 teenage 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. Margaret's mentally and emotionally abusive behavior has occasionally crossed over into physical abuse as well. A false document is a form of verisimilitude that attempts to create in the reader (viewer, audience, etc. ... Carietta Carrie White is a fictional character created by Stephen King. ... Official language(s) None (English and French de facto) Capital Augusta Largest city Portland Area  Ranked 39th  - Total 33,414 sq mi (86,542 km²)  - Width 210 miles (338 km)  - Length 320 miles (515 km)  - % water 13. ... Margaret White is a fictional character created by Stephen King. ... Fundamentalist Christianity, or Christian fundamentalism, is a movement that arose mainly within British and American Protestantism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by conservative evangelical Christians, who, in a reaction to modernism, actively affirmed a fundamental set of Christian beliefs: the inerrancy of the Bible, Sola Scriptura, the...

Carrie does not fare much better at her school, Thomas Ewen High School, where her plain looks, unfashionable attire and lack of friends and no popularity make her the butt of ridicule; at the beginning of the novel, she has her first period while showering after a physical education class. The terrified Carrie has no understanding of menstruation; her mother never spoke to her about it, and she has been a social outcast throughout high school. For other uses, see High school (disambiguation). ... (See also List of types of clothing) Introduction Humans often wear articles of clothing (also known as dress, garments or attire) on the body (for the alternative, see nudity). ... An interpersonal relationship is some relationship or connection between two people. ... Look up popularity in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Look up Ridicule on Wiktionary, the free dictionary Ridicule is a 1996 French film set in the 18th-century at the decaying court of Versailles. ... Menarche (IPA: ) is the first menstrual period, or first menstrual bleeding in the females of human beings. ... Physical education (PE) is the interdisciplinary study of all area of science relating to the transmission of physical knowledge and skills to an individual or a group, the application of these skills, and their results. ... Not to be confused with Mensuration. ...

That this could be Carrie's first period, or that sympathy might be appropriate, never occurs to her classmates; they use the event as an opportunity to taunt her. Led by Chris Hargensen, a spoiled rich girl who has a record of targeting outsiders, 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 is excused from school by the assistant principal and sent home to her mother, who shows no sympathy for Carrie's first encounter with "the woman's curse". For the commune of Réunion, see Le Tampon. ... Not to be confused with Mensuration. ...

Miss Desjardin, still incensed over the locker room incident, wants all the girls who taunted Carrie suspended and barred from attending the upcoming school prom as punishment. The school principal finds this too harsh and instead remands the girls to detention under the gym teacher's unforgiving eye. When Chris refuses to appear for the detention, she is suspended and barred from the prom. She tries to get her father, a prominent local lawyer, to intimidate the school principal into reinstating her prom privileges. The principal, however, is disgusted with Chris's behavior and stands up to Mr. Hargensen, who decides the matter is not worth pursuing. Suspended is an interactive fiction game published by Infocom in 1983. ... “Prom Queen” redirects here. ...

Carrie gradually discovers that she has telekinetic powers. She has apparently possessed the gift since birth, but conscious control over it disappeared after her infancy, although she remembers incidents throughout her life that could be attributable to telekinesis; for example, a shower of rocks on her house at the age of three (similar to an incident involving Shirley Jackson's heroine Eleanor in The Haunting of Hill House). Carrie practices her powers in secret, developing strength, even though this is physically tiring and she is frequently pressed to the limit. She also finds that she is somewhat telepathic, enough to be able to discern people's thoughts about her; for instance, she knows that the gym teacher has mixed feelings of sympathy and disgust towards her. Psychokinesis (literally mind-movement) or PK is the more commonly used term today for what in the past was known as telekinesis (literally distant-movement). It refers to the psi ability to influence the behavior of matter by mental intention (or possibly some other aspect of mental activity) alone. ... This article is about the author. ... The Haunting of Hill House is a 1959 novel by author Shirley Jackson. ... Telepathy, from the Greek τῆλε, tele, remote; and πάθεια, patheia, to be effected by, describes the hypothetical transfer of information on thoughts or feelings between individuals by means other than the five classical senses. ...

Meanwhile, Sue Snell, another popular girl who had earlier teased 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 attractive and popular boys in the school, to ask Carrie to the prom (Sue suspects that she is pregnant by Tommy). Carrie is suspicious but accepts, and makes her own outfit, a red velvet gown. Carrie's mother won't hear of her daughter doing anything so "carnal" as attending a school dance and reveals much of her own past as she explains why. She believes that sex in any form is sinful, even after marriage. She also knows all 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. Susan “Sue” Snell is a fictional character created by Stephen King. ... “Witch” redirects here. ...

Chris Hargenson, still furious with Carrie, devises her own plan of revenge with her boyfriend Billy Nolan. Billy, along with some friends, drives out to a farm, slaughters two pigs and fills two buckets full of blood, and, breaking into the school gym, suspends the buckets over the stage with a pull cord. Chris then rigs Carrie's election as prom queen. When Carrie and Tommy go up to be crowned, Chris will pull the cord, ruining the happiest moment of Carrie's life.

The plan succeeds beyond their wildest hopes. Tommy is knocked unconscious by one of the falling buckets, and he and Carrie are drenched in blood. Everyone in attendance, even some of the teachers, find themselves laughing at Carrie. As Sue says later, "after all those years of laughing at Carrie, what else could you do?" Carrie is finally pushed over the edge. She leaves the building in agonized humiliation, but once outside, she remembers her telekinetic gift and decides to use it for vengeance. Initially planning only to lock all the doors and turn on the sprinklers to destroy the dresses and ruin the hair of all of the snobbish girls who had bullied her, Carrie remembers about the electrical equipment set up for the dance band and the PA system. Carrie turns the sprinkler system anyway, finally going over the edge. Watching through the windows, she witnesses the death of two of the students and a school official by electrocution. She decides to kill everyone, eventually causing a massive fire that destroys Thomas Ewen High School, trapping almost everyone inside.

Walking home, she burns virtually all of downtown Chamberlain. A side-effect of Carrie's gift is "broadcast" telepathy; anyone within a certain radius becomes aware that the hideous carnage at the school and the explosions and fires downtown are being caused by Carrie White, even if they do not know who Carrie is. A few even catch details of her thoughts. She makes power lines break, gas stations explode, and wreaks other forms of vengeance on the town. She also mentally keeps the school's doors locked, although she allows the few students who remember the fire escape to leave, thinking that she'll get to them later.

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 marital rape, she stabs Carrie in the shoulder with a kitchen knife. Carrie kills her mother, using her telekinesis to cause her heart to slow and ultimately stop. This article is about the concept of Satan. ... Spousal rape or marital rape is non-consensual sexual activity in which the perpetrator is the victims spouse. ...

Mortally wounded but still alive, Carrie makes her way to the roadhouse where her father got drunk the night she was conceived. Seeing Chris and Billy leaving, and upon their attempt to run her over, she telekinetically takes control of the vehicle and wrecks the car, killing them both and setting the roadhouse on fire. Sue Snell, who has been following Carrie's telepathic "broadcast," finds Carrie collapsed in the parking lot.

Carrie and Sue have a brief telepathic conversation. Carrie had believed that Sue and Tommy had set her up for the prank, but Sue invites her to look into her mind. Realizing that Sue is innocent and has never felt animosity towards her, Carrie forgives her and dies; however, before doing so, Carrie causes Sue to miscarry, which can be seen as an act of revenge or friendship. However, Sue believes that she is finally having her period.

Carrie posits a strong relationship between the onset of puberty, particularly a young woman's menstruation, and psychic powers. Puberty refers to the process of physical changes by which a childs body becomes an adult body capable of reproduction. ... Menstrual cycle The menstrual cycle is a recurring cycle of physiologic changes that occurs in the females of several mammals, including human beings and other apes. ...

Background

Carrie was actually King's sixth novel 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 started as a short story originally intended for Cavalier magazine, but King tossed the first five pages of his work-in-progress in the garbage. Of King's published short stories at the time, he recalls "Some woman said, 'You write all those macho things, but you can't write about women.' I said, 'I'm not scared of women. I could write about them if I wanted to.' So I got an idea for a story about this incident in a girls' shower room, and the girl would be telekinetic. The other girls would pelt her with sanitary napkins when she got her period. The period would release the right hormones and she would rain down destruction on them... I did the shower scene, but I hated it and threw it away."^[2] Cavalier is a magazine launched by Fawcett Publications in 1952 and continuing for decades, eventually evolving into a Playboy-style mens magazine. ...

His wife, Tabitha King, fished the pages out of the garbage and encouraged him to finish the story. He followed his wife's advice and expanded it into a novel.^[3] King says "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."^[4] Tabitha King (born Tabitha Spruce on March 24, 1949) is an American author, the wife of author Stephen King, and the mother of three children, two of whom are also published authors. ...

The character of Carietta (Carrie) White was based on a combination of two girls in King's past; one of them went to school with him, the other was a student of his. The young girl King went to school with lived down the street from him when he lived in Durham, Maine. King recalls, in an interview with Charles L. Grant for Twilight Zone Magazine (Apr 1981), "She was a very peculiar girl who came from a very peculiar family. Her mother wasn't a religious nut like the mother in Carrie; she was a game nut, a sweepstakes nut who subscribed to magazines for people who entered contests . . . The girl had one change of clothes for the entire school year, and all the other kids made fun of her. I have a very clear memory of the day she came to school with a new outfit she'd bought herself. She was a plain-looking country girl, but she'd changed the black skirt and white blouse--which was all anybody had every seen her in--for a bright-colored checkered blouse with puffed sleeves and a skirt that was fashionable at the time. And everybody made worse fun of her because nobody wanted to see her change the mold." Durham is a town located in Androscoggin County, Maine. ... Charles L(ewis) Grant (born September 12, 1942 in Newark, New Jersey) is a novelist and short story writer specializing in what he calls dark fantasy and quiet horror. ... Twilight Zone literature is an umbrella term for the many books and comic books which concern or adapt The Twilight Zone television series. ...

King told biographer George Beahm that she later "married a man who was as odd as her, had kids and eventually killed herself."^[5]

According to the audio commentary for the 1976 Brian DePalma film version of Carrie, Carrie is based on a composite of two girls who were bullied and abused at school, one of whom had a religious fanatic for a mother. King says he wondered what it would have been like to have been reared by such a mother. He based the story itself on a reversal of the Cinderella fairy tale. Brian De Palma (born September 11, 1940 in Newark, New Jersey) is an American film director. ... Carrie is a 1976 American horror film directed by Brian De Palma based on the novel by Stephen King, with a screenplay written by Lawrence D. Cohen. ... Gustave Dorés illustration for Cendrillon Cinderella (French: Cendrillon) is a popular fairy tale embodying a classic folk tale myth-element of unjust oppression/triumphant reward. ... A fairy tale is a story, either told to children or as if told to children, concerning the adventures of mythical characters such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, giants, and others. ...

Carrie’s telekinetic powers 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. It is presumed that he drew inspiration from his time as a teacher while he was writing the book.^[5] Psychokinesis (literally mind-movement) or PK is the more commonly used term today for what in the past was known as telekinesis (literally distant-movement). It refers to the psi ability to influence the behavior of matter by mental intention (or possibly some other aspect of mental activity) alone. ... Hampden Academy is a public high school located on Main Street in Hampden, Maine. ...

At the time of publication, King was working as a teacher at Hampden Academy and barely making ends meet ($6,400 annually). 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." ^[6] New American Library bought the paperback rights for $400,000, which according to King's contract with Doubleday, was split with them. ^[7]

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." ^[8] Rosemarys Baby is an Academy Award-winning 1968 horror film directed by Roman Polanski and starring Mia Farrow. ... The Exorcist is a horror novel written by William Peter Blatty first published in 1971. ...

The book is dedicated to his wife, Tabitha: "This is for Tabby, who got me into it - and then bailed me out of it." Tabitha King (born Tabitha Spruce on March 24, 1949) is an American author, the wife of author Stephen King, and the mother of three children, two of whom are also published authors. ...

Carrie was published April 5, 1974 with an initial print run of 30,000 copies for a cover price of $5.95 USD. is the 95th day of the year (96th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the 1974 Gregorian calendar. ...

The hardback sold a mere 13,000 copies, while the paperback, released a year later, sold over 1 million copies in its first year. Brian DePalma's film adaptation was released ten weeks after King's second book, Salem's Lot, was published. ^[9] Brian De Palma (born September 11, 1940 in Newark, New Jersey) is an American film director. ... Salems Lot is a horror novel by Stephen King, written in 1975. ...

Prior to Carrie, King's novel Getting it On, later retitled Rage and released under the pseudonym of Richard Bachman, had been rejected by Doubleday. He had also written The Long Walk and The Running Man, both later published under the Bachman pen name. For the film sequel to Carrie, see The Rage: Carrie 2 Rage (originally titled Getting It On) is the first novel by Stephen King published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. ... Richard Bachmans author photo. ...

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."

Trivia

• Stephen King later reprised the notion of a child who uses telekinetic ability, consciously or unconsciously, to cause a shower of rocks onto a house, in Rose Red. Annie Wheaton, who is supposed to be autistic, has full control of her powers at a younger age than Carrie and destroys two houses with rock showers.
• Teddy Duchamp from the King novella The Body is briefly mentioned. Carrie sabotages an Amoco gas station once operated by Teddy, leading to its destruction. Minor character Thomas Quillan testifies during the White Commission that "Teddy Duchamp's been dead since 1968, God love him, but his boy locked those pumps up every night just like Teddy himself used to do."

Image File history File links Broom_icon. ... Rose Red is a 2002 horror movie with mystery and thriller elements, based on a plot written by Stephen King. ... Autism is a brain development disorder characterized by impairments in social interaction and communication, and restricted and repetitive behavior, all exhibited before a child is three years old. ... The Body: Fall from Innocence is a novella by Stephen King, originally published in the 1982 collection Different Seasons. ... The American Oil Company, or Amoco, was a global chemical and oil company, founded in Baltimore in 1910 and incorporated in 1922 by Louis Blaustein and his son Jacob, but now part of BP. The firms early innovations include the gasoline tanker truck and the drive-through filling station. ...

Adaptations

• A 1976 movie, based on the novel, was made, directed by Brian de Palma and starring Sissy Spacek.
• In 1999, a sequel titled The Rage: Carrie 2 was released. The premise was that Carrie's father had remarried and had another daughter who had telekinetic powers. Sue Snell, the only survivor of the prom, is now a school counselor.
• In 2002, a TV movie remake was released. It starred Angela Bettis, Emilie de Ravin and Patricia Clarkson.
• A 1988 Broadway musical, starring Betty Buckley, Linzi Hateley, and Darlene Love closed after only five performances and 16 previews. It is viewed as one of the biggest Broadway flops of all time.

Carrie is a 1976 American horror film directed by Brian De Palma based on the novel by Stephen King, with a screenplay written by Lawrence D. Cohen. ... Brian De Palma (born Brian Russell DePalma on September 11, 1940 in Newark, New Jersey) is a controversial American film director, best known for directing the Al Pacino classic Scarface, and the Academy Award-winning The Untouchables. ... Mary Elizabeth Sissy Spacek (born December 25, 1949) is an Academy Award-winning American actress and singer. ... The 2002 made-for-TV remake of Carrie is a modern, updated version of the original 1976 film. ... Angela Bettis (born January 9, 1975 in Austin, Texas) is an American actress best known for her lead role in the horror film May, for which she received several Best Actress awards at various film festivals. ... Emilie de Ravin (pronounced )[1] (born 27 December 1981)[2] is an Australian actress. ... Patricia Clarkson as Sarah OConnor on Six Feet Under Patricia Davies Clarkson (born December 29, 1959) is an American Academy Award-nominated actress. ... For other uses of Broadway, see Broadway. ... Betty Lynn Buckley (born July 3, 1947) is an American theater, film, and television actress. ... Linzi Hateley (born October 23 in Birmingham) is an English stage actress who is currently lined-up to star as Donna in the West End production of the musical Mamma Mia! from March 5, 2007. ... Darlene Love (born Darlene Wright, 26 July 1941, Los Angeles, California) is an American popular music singer. ...

Editions

• ISBN 0-606-00823-3 (prebound, 1975)
• ISBN 0-385-08695-4 (hardcover, 1990)
• ISBN 1-56780-057-2 (paperback, 1992)
• ISBN 0-8161-5688-3 (library binding, 1994, Large Type Edition)
• ISBN 84-01-49966-6 (hardcover, 1999)
• ISBN 0-671-03973-3 (paperback, 2000)
• ISBN 0-606-20594-2 (prebound, 2001)
• ISBN 0-609-81090-1 (paperback, 2001)
• ISBN 0-671-03972-5 (paperback, 2002)
• ISBN 84-01-49888-0 (hardcover)
• ISBN 0-7434-7060-5 (mass market paperback)

A Prebound book is a book that was previously bound and has been rebound with a library quality hardcover binding. ... Year 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Hardcover books A hardcover (or hardback or hardbound) is a book bound with rigid protective covers (typically of cardboard covered with cloth, heavy paper, or sometimes leather). ... Year 1990 (MCMXC) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 1990 Gregorian calendar). ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... Year 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1992 Gregorian calendar). ... ... Year 1994 (MCMXCIV) The year 1994 was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by the United Nations. ... Year 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full 2000 Gregorian calendar). ... Year 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 2001 Gregorian calendar). ... Categories: Stub | Books ...

References

is the 91st day of the year (92nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link displays the 1981 Gregorian calendar). ...

External links

• Carrie Book Review
• CARRIE THE MUSICAL OFFICIAL WEBSITE
• Flyrope.com page on the musical