Carrie White

"Jesus watches from the wall, but His face is cold as stone. And if He loves me - as she tells me - why do I feel so all alone?"

- Words of Carrie White (describing both the crucified Jesus statuette and her loneliness in her poem/journal). "Everyone isn't bad, Mama! Everything isn't a sin!"

- Carrie White to her mother Margaret in Carrie (1976). "Does everyone think they can go on playing tricks on me?"

- Carrie White in Carrie (2002). "Crash in her head with a rock, with a boulder. Crash in all their hearts. Good. Good."

- Carrie White in the novel fantasizing about getting revenge against the girls in the locker room.

Carietta N. White, also better known as Carrie White, is the titular protagonist of Stephen King's controversial first horror novel Carrie as well as several films and the musical based on the story. Carrie is the main anti-villain of the story, being both the protagonist and antagonist. She is a villain that the third party can root for with guilty pleasure. The true villains who are strictly the antagonist in the story are her worst enemy Chris Hargensen, the rich and popular bully at Carrie's school. And her severely mentally ill mother Margaret White, a religious and abusive fundamentalist.

She is portrayed by Sissy Spacek in the classic 1976 film, Angela Bettis in the 2002 made-for-TV movie, Chloe Grace Moretz in the 2013 remake and in the original 1988-musical by Annie Golden.

History
Carrietta "Carrie" White has a history that is bizzare and tragic. Her story is a thought provoking and cautionary tale about social isolation, peer pressure, religion and the outcome of bullying. She was the only child of Ralph and Margaret White. Both of her parents were very concencrated Christians and promised each other to never have sex before marriage. However, her father raped her mother one night when he came home from a Roadhouse down the street from their house and he was extremely drunk. Though Margaret put up a fight at first, she admitted later on that she smelled the Whiskey on his breath and she liked it. Carrie's father eventually left her mother when he got another woman pregnant and died shortly after. Margret was left all alone to give birth to her daughter in her own home, whom she named Carrietta.

Childhood
As the years went by Margret's mental state deteriorated because she never got over Ralph or accepted the fact that he turned his back on the Lord and left her. Ultimately as she never moved on, she slowly cut herself off from the world and never got the help she clearly needed. Margaret became obsessed with religion as a result to cope and believed that her daughter, Carrie was a Child of Sin and Sin never Dies, all because of the fact that Margaret gave birth to her out of wedlock. This shows how truly mentally ill Margaret sadly is.

As Carrie grew up, she had a very difficult childhood. Her mother strictly raised her to be a concencrated Christian like herself, and if she disobeyed or did something ungodly, Margaret would beat her with a Holy Bible, throw drinks at her, and send her to the prayer closet to pray for forgiveness. Carrie never had any friends because of her mother's deluded and crazy ways. She was a very lonely and quiet girl who was isolated and cut off from her surroundings, rarely leaving the house unless it was mandatory such as school.

Rain of Stones
In the novel; Carrie shows off her powers at a tender young age. One sunny day as a child, Carrie was playing in her yard until she ventured out into the next door neighbors' yard when her mother was not watching. There she found a young beautiful teenage girl sun bathing in a sexy bikini without a top on, her ex-neighbor Estelle "Stella" Horan. Carrie looked at the half naked girl and pointed to her breasts and asked her "what are those?" The girl replied "breasts" and told Carrie that one day she would get them. But Carrie shook her head and said that good girls do not get them and that she referred to breasts as 'dirty pillows' which was a phrase that her mother had put in her head. Margaret then came rushing out of her house hysterically, screaming at Carrie for talking with the neighbor girl, and even called her a "whore" and a "slut" which was heard by Estelle's mother, Mrs. Sheila Horan who asked Mrs. White to please never call her daughter that ever again. She pulled Carrie by the arm and back inside the house and began abusing her. Screams and cries could be heard by neighbors nearby. Suddenly a rain of hailstones came falling from the sky and strangely only fell directly on the White's house, mainly damaging the roof and windows. It was later hinted that Carrie was the cause of this.

Prayer Closet
The prayer closet that Margret White locks her daughter to pray inside of for hours or even days at a time (depending in Margaret's sick mind how severely Carrie has sinned) is a very symbolic part of the story of Carrie. It represents the repression, mind control and power Margaret has over her daughter. It is a metaphor for Carrie's world of loneliness, being trapped and unable to escape the prison her mother has made for her. As long as the closet exist, so will the misery that consumes the majority of Carrie's young life. Being inside the closet brings a strong feeling of claustrophobia and fear to Carrie as she cries, screams and pounds on the closet door begging to be let out, which is useless.

Inside the closet there are religious pictures hung up upon the walls, Bibles are laid out to read, candles for light and small religous figures cluttered all about the tiny space. A large crucifix with a bleeding and suffering Jesus with an expression of agony is nailed to it, is also on the wall and is the focal point of the little room. When locked inside against her will, Carrie reads glamour magazines such as Cosmo or Seventeen to pass the time instead of just endlessly praying. She dreams of what being a normal teenage girl would be like and hides the magazines under the floor boards of the closet. So her mother will not find them to punish her even more for filling her head with provocative and ungodly things. It is stated in the book that Carrie nearly died of suffocation and starvation from being locked in the closet once for days.

High School
Years later as a teenage girl who was slowly developing into a woman and attending public high school, Carrie was an outcast who was always singled out and relentlessly teased by cruel bullies and by the other popular classmates. Even a few teachers joined in on the fun making because of her crazy mother and the un-cool clothes her mother forced her to wear. At home, Carrie was constantly beaten into submission and stripped of her individuality by her insane mother on a regular basis but Carrie was too afraid to tell anyone.

Blood Sport
Blood is very symbolic and a strong key character and theme in Stephen King's Carrie which brings the story together, being It's foundation. "Blood Sport" just happens to be the title of the first chapter in the novel of Carrie.

It is a metaphor which plays a major role when Carrie is showering naked in the girl's locker room with her fellow female peers. This is something her mother Margret, strongly disapproves of. Despite how Margaret feels, Carrie is determined to try and be as normal as possible at school by engaging in activities such as P.E. Despite her efforts, to be accepted Carrie fails miserably, only sabotaging herself, causing Carrie to be an even bigger freak of nature. When the blood comes for the first time, it arrives coincidentally as Carrie's hand is exploring her Viginal area. Was she washing herself, or was she masturbating while exploring her privates? Possibly for the first time. The white bar of soap in her hand is also a metaphor to represent the cleanliness and purity, the washing of Carrie's virgin body. As the red blood is released causing a mess all over her hands, this represents what Margaret's religious teachings have installed in Carrie's head as the color of red stands for "Sin", (Carrie is a child of Sin, Sin never dies.)

Carrie views this as a punishment for disobeying her mother who Carrie is convinced can do no wrong and never sins. In reality the blood was just her very first period, due to her developing body that came at a very late age. For some girls this does happen and is not as rare as one may think. There is no official day or date when a girls period finally decides to kick in. It usually depends on the girls genetics. Sadly Carrie was never informed about this. The period was the the event that set the chain reaction in motion. It also shows an example of how cut off and sheltered Carrie is compared to her other peers at school who already know the meaning of a period and the cycle of menstrual blood. When Margaret finds out about what happened to Carrie at school, she believes it was God punishing her daughter and giving her the curse of blood for being naked in the girl's showers. This makes Margaret even more abusive to Carrie and even more delusional in her twisted mind.

When the blood comes, it is what triggers Carrie's telekinetic energy. It also is a female metaphor for womanhood, that stands for the end of female adolescents, and the beginning of adulthood. Which Carrie was held back from.

The blood from Carrie's humiliating experience at school, is given back to her in an even more cruel and embarrassing way when she is at the prom. When Carrie is covered in pig's blood after being elected as prom Queen, the blood is a symbolic metaphor for Carrie which shows that she will never be truly accepted by society and that she will forever remain as the black sheep of her school, being plagued with blood. The blood is a reminder that Carrie will always be an outcast no matter what. Showing that once the blood came, it was there forever, just like Carrie's social rejection.

In a sense, Carrie also views blood as a curse. If she never received her period, the blood wouldn't have ever come on Prom night, yet if she did not receive her period there would be no story. This shows that her menstrual cycle was destination, it is Carrie's fate. Blood is a part of Carrie. It's the heart of her story. But unlike most girls, for Carrie, instead of it being a rite of passage as a woman, it resembles a curse that Carrie is burdened with. A curse that she was not aware of until it unexpectedly came, and showered down on her in one of the most cruelest of ways.

Telekinesis/Flexing
"If I concentrate hard enough I can move things!- Carrie White"

- Carrie White about concentrating her telekinetic powers in Carrie (1976). "it's time to show them all a thing or two!"

- Carrie White in the novel Carrie.

Carrie, was mysteriously born with telekinesis. Which gave her the ability to move and control things with her mind whenever she concentrated hard enough. Carrie refers to her telekinesis as "flexing". At first this seemed like a rare and special gift, a miracle in Carrie's eyes that she strictly kept to herself, not telling a soul. Despite Carrie's effort to keep it a secret, she subconsciously had one or two outbursts infront of few people who witnessed this phenomenon but chose to be in denial or simply ignore choosing to believe it simply didn't happen. Carrie thought her telekinesis was a blessing, but in the end it all turned into a curse as Carrie did not now how to control her powers inside. And Carrie finally let it take over her mind, body and spirit, which lead not only to her eventual demise but sadly many others also. In the book, Carrie was also psychic and could sometimes read people's thoughts when they were near her. Such as Ms. Desjardins, her Physical Education teacher, which were a mixed feeling of sympathy and disgust in all of her lying compassion.

It is hinted that Carrie's deceased father was telekinetic in his own life, but never knew it or tapped into his own telekinetic abilities. It is arguably possible he might have known he was telekinetic, if so, he kept it to himself like Carrie would.

Personality and Character Analysis
Despite her eventually turning into a homicidal, sadistic, and destructive force to be reckoned with, Carrie was not a monster in the beginning. Throughout her story in both the book and the movie, Carrie was a loner, shown as a shy and timid young woman with no confidence. Carrie was a fractured young soul, in need of support and love. But it was only handed to her in small amounts, and at a very high cost. Carrie was a girl who had a traumatizing childhood and longed for a friend and someone who truly understood her pain and suffering. Alas, she let her powers get the better of her and this, coupled with all the abuse she suffered, caused her to undergo a villainous transformation.

Notably, even after her descent into villainy and unfathomable madness, Carrie is usually shown to still not be completely bereft of redeeming qualities. In several versions, she spares Miss Desjardin's life due to appreciating the kindness she had shown to her earlier and also chooses to let Sue Snell live even when she does not forgive her. Finally, she sought comfort in her mother following her rampage, suggesting that she still loved her and wanted to be loved by her even after all of the abuse Margaret showed to her.

Prior to snapping, Carrie was very sensitive and misunderstood. She would cry silently in her room late at night, dreading the next day of school. When she had her period for the first time, she was hysterically frightened because she thought she was bleeding to death internally and was going to die. She appeared to be a mysterious student who kept to herself much of the time and never bothered anyone.

Carrie can be considered a secondary villain (to the main villains Margaret White and Chris Hargensen), a tragic villain, and a protagonistic villain.

Physical Appearance And Style
Carrie's look is much more appealing in the Hollywood/ Tv movie's and musicals than the Acne ridden, colorless and overweight Carrie that Stephen King envisioned. In the novel, Carrie was first descibed while showering in the girl's locker room at school, which was against her mother's rules. She is said to be a 'Frog amongst Swans', an unattractive and uncoordinated girl of fifteen/sixteen with long, straight oily, and colorless flat blonde hair that hangs over her face. She was chubby at the waist, and had a lot of pimples on her chest, face, and back and buttocks. Physically, Carrie has lots of flaws and is even repulsive looking to some. As a small child, she was described by neighbors as being a very pretty little girl, who always wore homemade bright colored clothes, stockings and long skirts every day at school and at home. But over the years Carrie did a "reverse ugly duckling". In the novel, long after Carrie's death, Estelle Horan, the White's old neighbor who used to sun bath topless in her own yard as a teen, blames Margaret for sabotaging Carrie's natural beauty she once had as a little girl.

"She was such a pretty girl,' Stella Horan resumes, fighting another cigarette. 'I've seen some high school pictures of her, and that horrible fuzzy black-and-white photo on the cover of Newsweek. I look at them and all I can think is, Dear God, where did she go? What did that woman do to her? Then I feel sick and sorry. She was so pretty, with pink cheeks and bright brown eyes, and her hair the shade of blonde you know will darken and get mousy. Sweet is the only word that fits...you could still see the misery within her, but she was just so sweet and bright and innocent. Her mother's sickness hadn't touched her very deeply, not then!" -Estelle Horanon Carrie as a child.

She was never seen wearing denim jeans or short skirts or tops that revealed cleavage because her mother does not want her daughter to wear fashionable clothes that she describes being "ungodly" or "provocative". Carrie is forced to wear homemade clothing that her or her mother sew that resembles the style of a Thanksgiving Pilgrim.

In the novel, when Carrie finally transforms and got beautifully dressed up to go to the Prom, she wore a red dress of thick crushed red velvet that she made herself, with high heeled shoes and a matching corsage.

Sissy Spacek's look was changed slightly for the movie, to intensify the pig's blood on Carrie to make it stand out better. Carrie's dress was changed from red crushed velvet with long sleeves to pink sleeveless silk.

The 1976 Carrie famously wore a flimsy light pink dress of silky material with a pink translucent sash wrapped loosley around her arms. This is the most popular look for Carrie's character in pop culture. Also Sissy was more attractive and skinnier and unlike in the book she had no pimples, but did have many freckles. Her hair was straight but not very well kept and hangs over her face like in the novel. On Prom night, she brushed and curled her hair at the bottom. She walked with a slouch, wore Librarian clothing and had Hazel eyes. In the 2002 TV remake, played by actress Angela Bettis, she has long brown hair and brown eyes. Her forehead was big and slightly broad. As opposed to the novel, she was underweight. In the TV movie, she also wore a light pink dress like in the Sissy Spacek film. In the 2013 remake, Chloe Mortez is nearly identical to Spacek's classic look.

Queen of the Prom
Carrie is Stephen King's version of Cinderella. In the original novel, Carrie's revenge plays out rather differently and more slowly compared to the movies.

When Carrie rebels against her mother, she gets a taste of freedom and escapes the psychological cage her mother has locked her in just for one night.

When she arrives at the Prom, things look as if they are turning around for Carrie at last. She talks to some of the cool and popular kids and even cracks a few jokes that makes her peers actually laugh with her and finally not just at her. The night seems to be going fairly well as she gets complimented on her appearance. It is stated that Carrie looked really beautifully and normal for the first time in her short ilife. The social anxiety within her slowly begins to lift, letting Carrie glow and come out of her shell to enjoy herself. Carrie's fantasy is ultimately shattered as fate steps in when she is tricked and humiliated by vindictive and sociopathic students into being elected as Queen of the Prom by one vote. Carrie is crowned on stage as the audience below cheers and congratulates her as they all sing the school song. While sitting on the Queen's throne, suddenly a banging metallic sound is heard that cuts through the music. Seconds later Carrie is showered in what feels to her at first like a warm, thick, wet blanket which come to find out was very smelly rotting blood from a pig. After the blood is dumped on her from a metal bucket high above, Carrie is drenched from head to toe in front of the entire school, everything goes dead silent as time seems to stop. Her red velvet dress she made for the special night is completely ruined. It is stated that Carrie looked as if someone had dipped her in a red bucket of paint. Tommy Ross, who was the most nicest, cutest and popular boy in shcool happened to be Carrie's date. Unfortunately he is also showered in pig's blood as he's beside Carrie sitting on the King's throne with a second bucket above. Despite this Carrie gets soaked the worst. Tommy's bucket falls and hits him right on the top of his head. He is knocked out cold, hitting the floor unconscious and he dies seconds later. The prank was followed by a rain of cruel laughter by even a few of the teachers including Ms. Desjardin, the teacher who was nice to Carrie, like a trusted friend before. Ms. Desjardin tries to comfort Carrie who is reading her thoughts, which are of lying compassion. Carrie strikes out at Desjardin, who then flies across the room. In embarrassment, Carrie then tries to flee the stage, hopping like a frog with her hands infront of her face. And to add insult to injury an anonymous student in the crowd of Prom goers, to stick their foot out to trip Carrie as she passes by. She falls clumsily, leaving a big streak of blood behind her as she slides on all fours across the room and the laughter grows louder. While on the floor, Carrie looks up and into the faces of the many people crowded around her. Carrie knows everyone is hysterical and laughing uncontrollably. Some people are said to be laughing so hard they are crying and rolling on the floor holding they're tummies. But they are all dressed in glittering ball gowns and expensive tuxedos, with perfect hairdos and attractive smiles. Wrapped within the bright luminous light of acceptance and belonging, a light that Carrie will never be apart of. Humiliated, Carrie is still on the floor, crawling like a pig.

Carrie gets back up on her feet and runs out of the school so fast and ungainly that she loses her prom slippers like Cinderella on the way out. She finally makes it to the school's front lawn to collapse on the wet moist grass outside to catch her breathe as she realizes she has just been tricked and made a fool of once again.

A Descent into Madness and a Thirst for Bloody Revenge
While a barefoot Carrie is all alone outside, in a state of utter shock she tries to come to terms and accept what has happened. Carrie plans to just slip away into the dark night and take the back streets so no one will see her, but just as she decides to go home and admit to Momma that she was right, yet she did not.

Something snaps within Carrie's mind, like a dark epiphany. A psychological breaking point inside of her is released after so many years of repression. It quickly takes over Carrie as she remembers her telekinesis. It's time to teach them all a lesson or two. So she pulls herself together, returning to the school with a deep and ruthless vengeance, it's time to teach everyone a lesson. Carrie locks everyone inside the auditorium and turns on the sprinkler system to wet everyone and ruin they're prom outfits and nice hairdos. What seems to be just innocent fun to Carrie, wetting eveyone, the sprinklers water gets to close to all the electrical cords on the stage. Carrie looks in through the windows of the gymnasium doors and smiles as she see's everyone inside panicking as sparks fly everywhere and people are getting electrocuted one by one. Carrie even laughs when one female student is electrocuted and her body moves like a crazed puppet as volts of electricity dance through her body. Students are still desperately trying to open the doors and even looking back at Carrie through the thick glass. As the building quickly catches fire and spreads. Carrie looks happy and smiling as she seeks her revenge and watches her fellow classmates and peers electrocuted to a crisp and ultimately burned alive before leaving to destroy the town next.

Only a few lucky students and teachers survived that night of "The Black Prom".

The Devil Comes to Chamberlain
Carrie, in a deep catatonic trance proceeded to go on a hellish rampage while walking home, happily destroying everything and anything that she passes. Burning cars and houses, blowing up gas stations, knocking over electric poles and breaking fire hydrants as she sets the town of Chamberlain, Maine ablaze and killing as many people as she can. Innocent bystanders are running and screaming through the streets in all of the chaos and confusion throughout the town as fire trucks, cop cars and sirens wail. The wild fire in the town becomes uncontrollable as the high flames are so fierce that a bright orange glow can be seen in the sky even from a far off distance. After praying at a nearby chapel, Carrie then returns to her house and from her mother learns the truth about how she was conceived. Though at first Margaret appears to comfort her bloody distraught daughter, she tricks Carrie and brutally stabs her in the back, hitting an artery. Carrie defended herself and retaliated by stopping her mother's heart until Margaret died from a heart attack. A tired and drained Carrie makes her way outside again to finish what she started and kills the two main antagonists who were the ringleaders of the prank, Chris Hargensen and her boyfriend Billy Nolan. Chris and Billy know what Carrie has done, and underestimate her by stupidly attempting to kill her by running her over. Carrie uses her telekinesis once again and crashes the oncoming vehicle into the building of a nearby strip club and destroys it as the car explodes in flames of fire.

The Novel's Original Ending
After killing Chris and Billy, Carrie becomes drained of most her power. She is found lying in the middle of a dirt road near the town by Sue Snell her former classmate. Carrie is nearly dead by this point, but has a final deep conversation with Sue before her dying minutes later. Carrie does not forgive Sue and chooses to hold a grudge. Carrie, however, does believe her when she states she had nothing to do with the prank at the Prom. Thus, Carrie leaves her alive showing her some mercy, but also shows Sue all of the soul crushing torment she received as an outsider throughout her life. Sue finally see's and feels the misery of Carrie's sad life, that she would not have ever known about otherwise, Sue's heart breaks for Carrie in a selfless and honest way.

Carrie cries out loud for her mother, wanting to be comforted and held as she dies in Sue's arms. Seconds later, as Sue gets up to call for help she strangly has her period on herself which was late, as the menstrual blood runs down her leg. Earlier in the story Sue believed she might have been pregnant with her boyfriend Tommy Ross's baby. But her period coming confirms she either had a miscarriage or she was never pregnant to began with. It hints that Sue received the "Curse" of Carrie. Rather Sue's period coming at the exact same time of Carrie's death was coincidental or caused by Carrie is left to the unknown.

Death of Carrie White
The cause of Carrie's death is left an open mystery. Carrie either died due to a combination of exhaustion, severe brain hemorrhaging from over using her telekinesis, blood loss from her wounds, or she used her telekinetic abilities to shut her own body down and committed suicide after realizing what she had done. And the monster that she became. It also is very possible that Carrie couldn't live with herself knowing she killed her own mother, whom she loved unconditionally and died to possibly be with Margaret in the afterlife.

Aftermath
Carrie's controversial story becomes a widely discussed subject, one that is immediately taken to the supreme court where witnesses are ask to tell everything they knew about Carrie or saw the night of the tragedy. Some people insist it was a natural disaster and Carrie White was not a monster, yet simply at the wrong place at the wrong time, therefore being used as the scapegoat even in death. Others insist that Carrie was responsible for the wildfire, possessing a type of unexplainable power. No one can prove this true nor false. If Carrie is truly guilty for the tragic deaths of dozens of innocent people or not remains a cold case.

Meanwhile, Chamberlain Maine is a nearly abandoned ghost town. The tragedy by now has made headlines across America. The night of The Black Prom has hit the nation bigger than the JFK Assassination. Ms. Desjardin resigns as a teacher due to her guilt over Carrie and a heartbroken Sue Snell goes on to write a memoir about her high school experiences and her involvement with Carrie White. Titled "My Name Is Sue Snell".

The majority of the few survivors and their families are grieving over the tragic deaths of loved ones who were killed at the prom when Carrie White locked everyone inside, or were caught in the chaos of the wildfire and explosions and didn't evacuate quick enough. After the funeral services are held for the dead, people are packing up and leaving town for good, never to return.

It is also implied, that the ghost town has become a tourist attraction since then for all those, who want to know everything regarding Carrie White. With all the destruction intact it was also easy to achieve that. The book closes with a letter written by a woman in Tennessee, where it is implied her niece is developing telekinetic power and energy.

Cameo Appearance
In a graveyard in Maine, Carrie's head stone is briefly mentioned in Stephen King's novel "IT".

Inspiration of Carrie
When reading Carrie, in the books introduction, Stephen King admits that the character of the telekinetic, blood drenched Prom Queen was based off of two real life girls:

"I'd read an article in LIFE magazine some years before, suggesting that at least some reported poltergeist activity might actually be telekinetic phenomena – telekinesis being the ability to move objects just by thinking about them. There was some evidence to suggest that young people might have such powers, the article said, especially girls in early adolescence, right around the time of their first period. In the magazine, the story talked about a suburban family, in the family there was a troubled teenage daughter. When she was at home objects, specifically religious objects moved or even flew right across the room. When she was gone or away from the house, things stayed in their original place. It mentioned that the daughter of the family also just happened to be on the verge of puberty. Suddenly —POW! two ideas, good for a short story about adolescent cruelty and telekinesis popped into my head.

Then it all came together, and I had an idea…

Pretty soon, I had an idea for a longer story. I thought, I could write about an awkward girl with lots of spunk and attitude, no older than fifteen, but unbalance her, with telekinetic powers. Then I remembered a girl back in high school. She was overweight, had greasy hair, and bad acne, and I began to tell her story. Before I had completed two pages, ghosts of my own began to intrude; the ghosts of two sad girls, (both long dead), who eventually morphed into one to become the character of Carrietta White. I will not reveal either girl's true name. Both girls we're unfortunates in life and do NOT deserve to be chewed over, even in an introduction as humble and sincere as this one. So, I will call one of them Tina White and the other Sandra Irving.

Tina, was short, pudgy and very quiet. So plain jane you could cry, she went to Durham Elementary School with me. There is a goat in every class, the kid who has an invisible sign on the forehead that reads: (((STRANGE, NOT LIKE THE REST, STAY AWAY!!!))) That only other kids can pick up on. I no longer can pick up on this invisible wave broadcast but I do remember it like it was yesterday.

There is a black sheep in every grade, a freak of every school. The kid who is always left without a chair in musical chairs, the one who winds up wearing the KICK ME HARD sign on the back or the one who stands five feet away at the very end of the class line because they have the Cooties. The one who is shoved in a locker after being given a wedgie. The one who gets picked last to team up with in a class project. The one who is the first one to get hit with the ball during dodge ball. The one who is beat up while walking home from school. The one students deliberately make vomiting sounds when passing them in the hallways... you get my overall point. You know that kid, everybody does, they went to your school also!

Sadly, this was Tina. Not because she was stupid (she wasn't), and not because her family was peculiar (it was) but because she was poor, wearing the same exact outfit to school every single day for the entire year. I can remember that outfit even now, I don't even have to close my eyes. The red headband over the long, jet black, and actually quite beautiful hair. The dingy white yellowing blouse, slightly too tight against her developing bosom. And the long motionless black, and rather unflattering skirt that fell straight to the shins. The kids would crack jokes and say stuff such as, "Hey, what's black, white and red all over? Tina!" And the class would all laugh ceremonially.

One year, after Christmas break, Tina came back to school completely transformed from a new makeover, and she even had a brand new outfit on. I can't remember that one but I remember how pretty she looked and how happy she was to be wearing it. But instead of finally being accepted by our fellow peers, the students rejection of Tina became even fiercer. At first Tina was shocked, then she became angry, and then the anger melted into sadness, until finally she was simply numb and filled with dull acceptance. As the insults, cruel jokes and sarcastic comments seem to endlessly rain down on her. I did not take part in the bullying of Tina, nor was I against it. Hey! I was fourteen then, it's hard to stand up for someone on your own at fourteen!

And then some years later in High School there was Sandra, Sandra Irving suffered from severe epilepsy, she was overly religous as well was her family. And her religous beliefs is what drove most people away from her, and also the fact that she always dressed like a Thanksgiving Pilgrim and smelled like moth balls. She lived about a mile-and-a-half from the house where I grew up with her mother and had a pet dog with the absurd name of 'Chedder-Cheese'. Strangely, despite the strong religious nature of Tina and her mother there was no father figure in the picture. One day, Mrs Irving hired me to help her move some furniture … I was struck by the giant oversized crucifix hanging up in the living room made of polished wood. It was placed right over the Irving couch. It had a life-size sculpted Jesus nailed to it. He wore a crown of thorns and had an expression on his face of passion and agony as the painted blood dripped down his forehead. If the nail holding such a gigantic icon had given loose or fallen down when the two of them were watching TV, the person it fell on would almost certainly have been killed. Or at least severely wounded.

As the years went by, neither girl graduated High School nor saw the age of thirty. Tina eventually committed Suicide, hanging herself at her family's home, up in the attic. Sandra died from one of her deadly epileptic seizures in her small apartment that she had lived at in my home town after dropping out of high school due to bullying.

These were the ghost of my past, that seemed to haunt me so. Telling me to combined them and their personality as one somehow, to add my own quirks and character traits into the character. And tell a story about what could have or might have happened if either girl was fortunately or unfortunately blessed with Carrie's miraculous gift.

I did three single-spaced pages of a first draft, thought over, then crumpled them up in disgust and threw them away. The next night, when I came home from school, my wife Tabby had the pages. She'd spied them while emptying my waste-basket, had shaken the cigarette ashes off the crumpled balls of paper smoothed them out and sat down to read them. She wanted me to go on. She wanted to know the rest of the story, so...that's when I was determined to take three personalities from Tina, Sandra and my own imagination and make them all into one, bringing Carrie to life.

I wish that Tina or Sandra were still alive and here today, or even they're daughters, so they could read it, to find comfort in it, to know that they are not alone.

To bring justice to them, in a world that is as cold and cruel as it is beautiful and fair."

-Stephen King

This piece is taken from Stephen King's book On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft and his Introduction to Carrie.

The Classic 1976 Movie
In this iconic classic 1976 movie version directed by Brian De Palma, starring Sissy Spacek, only Carrie gets Pig's blood dumped on her. Tommy Ross does get hit in the head and knocked unconscious, but by Carrie's swinging bucket above, instead of two buckets with one as his own.

Everything that Carrie does to the Prom goers after the prank, happens inside of the gymnasium instead of Carrie just looking in the gym door windows like in the novel. The film adds the cruel twist in which she only imagined that everyone was laughing as she snapped. But in reality many of the students and staff were shocked and horrified by the incident, as they even knew, for a prank, it was going too far. Most appeared to be frozen in place, with expressions of disbelief and even sympathy. Only Chris Hargensen's group of friends actually laughed. This delusion of Carrie's triggered a hallucination induced psychotic episode in which she unleashed her suppressed telekinesis in a horrific and unapologetic manner -as in Carrie's eyes, they all we're guilty and all had to go. Carrie Kills everyone in the gym while burning it down and locking everyone inside to scream as they burn to death and die.

There were no Survivors.

Carrie does not destroy the entire town in this movie. But while Carrie is slowly walking home and in a catatonic state, Chris Hargensen and her boyfriend Billy who is drunk, are driving in Billy's car. Chris is at the wheel and she see's Carrie down the same road ahead of them, she is walking and covered in pig's blood as wailing fire trucks are seen passing by. Chris pursues to run Carrie over, but Carrie quickly turns around to see them and flips the car over dozens of times and blows it up killing Chris and Billy both. Carrie then makes it home finally to find hundreds of religious candles lite and burning all throughout the home.

She slowly walks up stairs, takes off her bloody prom dress and washes herself in a hot bath. After she drys off and puts her nightgown on, she finds her mother Margaret standing behind her. In sadness and despair Carrie throws herself into her mother's arms only to be stabbed in the back by her with a butchers knife, believing Carrie is evil. Carrie's mother corners her in the kitchen of the house and in defense Carrie stabs her mother all over the body with kitchen utensils using her telekinesis. Carrie's mother has her hands pinned to the walls by knives and dies resembling Jesus on the cross. Realizing she has killed her own mother, Carrie screams in anguish and frustration. This triggers Carrie's telekinetic powers, and makes the house cave in and collapse with her and her mother inside. The candles all about the house are knocked over and burn the house down to the ground. Carrie is knocked unconscious during the house fire, and while holding her dead mother in the Prayer closet. Carrie is hit in the head and knocked unconscious before the two are buried together in all the rubble and die as one.

Sue Snell, a former classmate of Carrie and girlfriend of the deceased Tommy, stayed home on Prom night to make it up to Carrie for being a bully. She had Tommy take Carrie out instead. Sue did not have anything to do with the prank and even tried to stop it, but is guilt ridden by the tragedy nonetheless. Sue's family is said to be moving away for a while to help a sleeping Sue recover. But the last scene of the movie, shows the viewer that Sue is forever haunted by Carrie in her nightmares and probably will never be the same again.

2002 TV Movie
In the 2002 made for TV movie starring Angela Bettis in the lead role was not a remake in a sense, but a more faithful adaption of the novel. The theme of the school prom is kept "Spring time in veinna" like Stephen King envisioned.

After the prank is pulled on Carrie, she suffers a complete blackout, therefore she is not truly aware of her surroundings and what she is doing. She subconsciously goes on a catatonic tantrum of destruction at the school and the town of Chamberlain that ends when she reaches her home to wash all the blood off in the bathtub. Only after reaching it and putting herself in water she recovers her awareness of the world around her. Shortly afterwards Carrie's mother tries to drown her in a overflowing bathtub after the Prom. She stops her mother's heart for good and kills her in self- defense. She nearly dies because of the murder attempt, but she is later found by Sue, who was looking for her. She manages to revive her and then she hid her away in a hiding place bringing her food and drink to survive. After waiting until things would cool down Carrie moves to Florida to start a new life, and disappear forever thanks to the help of Sue who drives her halfway out of guilt and compassion.

Carrie was kept alive in this TV movie version because the movie was meant to have a Television series follow after it, where Carrie helps other teenagers who are also telekinetic. The TV show pilot was never successfully filmed and was eventually cancelled.

2013 Carrie Remake
This version is more faithful to the 1976 film.

The 2013 remake brought a few elements from the Stephen King book into Carrie's story on film, despite having Chloe Mortez's look based off of Sissy Spacek's. In this movie, Carrie also has the ability to effortlessly levitate. After the prank is pulled on her at the prom, she kills the majority of everyone inside and then sets the school ablaze, she then lifts herself up into the air after sparing the lives of only a few and flies out of the gymnasium to take on the entire town. In the ending, she seemingly dies after burying herself alive by bringing down her house with her own telekinetic power. However, when Sue Snell, in gratitude for having learned from Carrie that she was pregnant with an unborn daughter belonging to both Sue and Tommy, leaves a flower at her desecrated grave, the tombstone cracks. It suggests that Carrie may have in fact survived the night of the Prom and disappeared, never to be seen or heard from ever again. Strangely in this version, when Carrie is elected Prom Queen, she wears no tiara or crown, but is given a bouquet of beautiful roses.

Portrayals
Carrie White was portrayed by Sissy Spacek in the original movie and was portrayed by Angela Bettis in the 2002 remake. In the 2013 film she is portrayed by Chloe Moretz.

The Rage, 1999 Sequel
In the poorly received sequel to the 1976 film, Sue Snell ends up becoming a school counselor. And Carrie's father Ralph White long before he was killed at a construction site years later, had another family including another daughter named Rachel, who also had telekinesis.

Carrie: The Musical-Musical
Carrie: The Musical is a musical with a book by Lawrence D. Cohen, lyrics by Dean Pitchford, and music by Michael Gore. Adapted from Stephen King's novel Carrie, it focuses on an awkward teenage girl with telekinetic powers whose lonely life is dominated by an oppressive, religiously fanatic mother. When she is humiliated by her classmates at the high school prom, she wreaks a deathly havoc on everyone and everything in her'' path. Francis X. C''lines, in The New York Times (March 2, 1988), noted that Carrie-

"Is Mr. King's carmine variation on Cinderella".

Personal Information
Race: Human

Birth: September 21, 1963 (1985 in the 2002 movie remake and 1995 in the same 2013 remake)

Died: May 28, 1979 (novel, 1976 movie, 2013 movie (though the post-credits ending leaves Carrie's fate unknown), and musical only, but lives on and redeems to a new life with the help of Sue Snell in the 2002 movie)

Star Sign: Virgo

Age: 16-17 (At death, in novel, 1976 movie, 2013 movie (though the post-credits ending leaves Carrie's fate unknown), and musical only)

Eye Color: Hazel in the 1976 film/2013 remake. (Brown in novel and the 2002 TV movie)

Hair Color: Dirty blonde (novel) Strawberry blonde (1976 movie and 2013 movie) Brown ( 2002 TV movie) Family:

Ralph White - Father (deceased)

Margaret White - Mother (deceased)

Rachel Lang - Half-sister (The Rage: Carrie 2 1999 movie only)

Trivia

 * She shares a similarity to the dog Max from the movie Man's Best Friend. They have both been abused throughout their life and always sought retribution.
 * She also shares this similarity to Matilda Wormwood from the Roald Dahl book Matilda as they have both been tormented throughout their life and both use their powers to get back at them. However whilst nearly everyone tormented Carrie it is only certain people who have tormented Matilda: her father, her mother, her brother and her headmistress.
 * She also shares similarities to Alessa Gillespie from the Silent Hill videogame series as Carrie and Alessa possessed psychokinetic powers, have been tormented at their schools by their cruel classmates, and both have psychotically religious mothers. It turns out these similarities were intentional, as Alessa is a direct reference to her.
 * She shares a similarity to It and a doctor who is the villain in The Pied Piper. They are all telekinetic.
 * She also shares a similarity to Aggie Prenderghast, both being treated as outcast, both having telekinesis and both used their powers against those who offended them.
 * She is not killed in the second adaptation and it is hinted that she lives in the 2013 adaptation as well.
 * She is also somewhat similar to Lucy from Elfen Lied as they both are tormented by students and angrily murdered them as they laughed, using forms of telekinesis.
 * She also shares this similarity to Willow Rosenberg from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a girl judged unsightly and humiliated daily by Cordelia Chase, the queen bee of her campus like Chris Hargensen. Willow also obtains a telekinetic power by becoming a witch. Her friendship with Buffy is possibly comparable to the relation between Carrie and Sue Snell as far as these last tries to restore her self-confidence in her and is in a way her guardian angel. However, Willow is neglected and not abused by her parents. Another difference, she was considered like the most studious among the campus contrary to Carrie who is ignored on all spheres. Later, Willow becomes a lesbian. When her girlfriend is murdered, Willow becomes a temporary dark version of herself, vengeful and empowered, similar to Carrie when humiliated in the prom. Interestingly, Willow has a veinous face like Rachel Lang in the sequel. Others females characters on the show are also inspired by Carrie. The relationship between Amy Madison and her mother is similar to Carrie and her mother from the 1976 film because the father left the family home. The mother becomes psychotic, obsessed by her youthful age and often humiliating her daughter.
 * Another villain from Buffy, Drusilla is depicted in her former human life as a pious, shy and virginal girl like Carrie, haunted by her medium power and considered herself as The Devil's gift. Becoming schizophrenic and vampirized, she has a comportment similar to Margaret White. Another medium, Cassie Newton is depressed by her own power and has cut all relationships.
 * In the 2013 remake, Carrie White mentioned that she inherited her telekinetic power from either her father Ralph, or from her great-grandmother Sadie Cochran, was the mother of Judith Cochran, the mother-in-law of John Brigman, the grandmother of Margaret Brigman. Sadie, like her great-granddaughter, was telekinetic. She died of heart failure at the age of 66, possibly from straining herself with her own powers.
 * She shares many traits with Elsa from Frozen. In order of events, both of their parents were deceased, they were depressed of their own powers (Elsa's ice powers and Carrie's telekinesis), they cut all relationships after humiliation striked upon them (Elsa's powers were revealed and Carrie's 'first experience' was filmed), they caused a traumatic disaster to their hometown (Elsa made an eternal winter in Arandelle and Carrie set her hometown aflame), and they were both responsible for the death of someone close to them (Elsa froze Anna's heart and Carrie telekinatically stopped her mother's heart). Interestingly, the main difference is how Elsa's powers froze things, while Carrie's telekinesis destroyed and set things on fire. Another thing is how the death of that someone had to do with the heart.