Carrie (novel)

Did You Know?

• Carrie is in part an epistolary novel, organized around a framing device of multiple narrators and reports.
• Throughout the novel, Carrie is often associated with pigs, considered disgusting animals.
• The novel was marketed as an occult novel, but trade reviewers called it horror, unusual for the time.

Plot

In 1979, 16-year-old Carietta "Carrie" White of Chamberlain, Maine, is ridiculed for her weight, clothes, and the religious beliefs instilled by her fanatical mother Margaret. While showering after gym class, Carrie has her first period; never taught about menstruation, she panics. Classmates led by Chris Hargensen mock her and throw tampons and sanitary napkins. Gym teacher Rita Desjardin intervenes and sends Carrie home.

Walking home, Carrie unconsciously uses telekinesis to push a taunting child from his bicycle, recalling earlier incidents of unusual events. At home, Carrie tells her mother about her period; Margaret blames Carrie's sinfulness and locks her in a closet. The next day, Desjardin gives the bullies a week's detention; Chris refuses and is suspended and excluded from prom. Chris decides to take revenge.

Another girl, Sue Snell, asks her boyfriend Tommy to invite Carrie to prom to atone. Carrie accepts. Chris and her boyfriend Billy gather pig's blood and rig the prom queen election to humiliate Carrie by dropping blood on her during the coronation. Carrie secretly learns to control her telekinesis.

Margaret, realizing Carrie has inherited abilities like her own grandmother's, calls them witchcraft and begs Carrie not to attend; Carrie uses her powers to thwart Margaret's attempts to stop her.

Background

At the time of writing Carrie, Stephen King lived in a trailer in Hermon, Maine with his wife Tabitha and two children, teaching English at Hampden Academy and writing short stories for men's magazines. Carrie was originally a short story intended for Cavalier, conceived after a friend suggested writing about a female character. King had five unpublished novels completed. The story's basis came from imagining a girl menstruating in the shower and an article about telekinesis.

King felt discomfort writing the opening scene, not being female, and apathy toward Carrie; after three pages he threw the manuscript away. Tabitha retrieved it and convinced him to continue. King emotionally connected to Carrie through two girls he knew: one constantly abused at school due to poverty, the other from a devoutly religious family. King believed Carrie would not be successful and found writing it a waste of time, continuing only to please his wife.

The first draft was a 98-page novella he detested. In December 1972, King rewrote it to novel length, fabricating documents imitating periodicals like Esquire and Reader's Digest. After Doubleday accepted Carrie, King revised it with editor Bill Thompson. The original ending had Carrie growing demon horns and destroying an airplane; Thompson convinced King to rewrite it more subtly.

Reception

The hardback edition of Carrie sold modestly, with sources varying between 13,000 and 17,000 copies. The paperback edition sold one million copies in its first year, bolstered by the 1976 film adaptation, totaling four million sales. In 1976, Carrie became a New York Times best seller, debuting in December and remaining for 14 weeks, peaking at number 3. The novel received generally positive reviews.

Harold C. Schonberg, writing as Newgate Callendar for The New York Times, stated King writes with surety normally associated with veteran writers. Ina Bonds of The Daily Times-Advocate called it an admirable achievement for a first novel. Kirkus Reviews wrote that King handles his first novel with considerable accomplishment. Bob Cormier of the Daily Sentinel & Leominster Enterprise found King no ordinary writer.

Library Journal declared the novel a terrifying treat for horror and parapsychology fans. Mary Schedl of The San Francisco Examiner wrote that Carrie goes beyond the usual limitations of the genre. Publishers Weekly praised its sympathetic portrayal of Carrie. Booklist stated reading required a willing suspension of disbelief and taste.

Legacy

Carrie was the novel that launched Stephen King's career. The $200,000 advance from its mass-market release let him leave teaching to write full time, and it cemented his reputation as a horror author focused on the supernatural, dark, and bizarre. In the six months after the book came out, King wrote early drafts of Blaze and 'Salem's Lot, with the latter becoming his second published novel in 1975. The book and its 1976 film adaptation pushed King into the mainstream.

Along with three other novels, Carrie is seen as sparking a modern public interest in horror literature, a trend the movie adaptation boosted. Writers like Sarah Pinborough, James Smythe, and Sarah Lotz have cited it as an influence, and Joanne Harris calls her 2023 novel Broken Light an homage to it. The iconic prom scene where Carrie is drenched in pig blood has appeared in pop culture, from Monsters University and My Little Pony comics to horror works like It Follows, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Treehouse of Horror.