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?"

- Carrie's most famous quote Carrie White (full name: Carietta White) is the titular protagonist of Stephen King's novel Carrie — as well as several films and the musical based on the story. She is an outcast.

Appearances/Portrayals
She is portrayed by actress Sissy Spacek in the classic 1976 film, Angela Bettis (and Jodelle Ferland as a child) in the 2002 made-for-TV movie, Chloe Grace Moretz in the 2013 remake and in the original 1984 musical by stage singer and performer Annie Golden.

She is considered a hero by the act of having punished her tormentors.

In contrast with the novel, Carrie is shown as much more charismatic and beautiful in the film versions.

Carrie (novel)
The character of Carrie 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. Margaret most likely never wanted children. However, Ralph raped Margaret one night when he came home from a Roadhouse down the street from their house and he was extremely intoxicated. Though Margaret put up a fight at first, she eventually admitted on the same night of her death, 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 backsliding from Christ. She never moved on, and slowly cut herself off from the world and never got the help she clearly needed, suffering from schizophrenia and possibly borderline personality disorder. Margaret became reclusive and obsessed with religion as a result to cope and believed that her daughter was a "bad seed' all because of the fact that Margaret gave birth to her out of wedlock. This shows how truly mentally ill Margaret sadly is.

In Margaret's religious self-teachings, she believes Carrie is a child of sin, sin itself never dies. Therefore Carrie is sin and has been tainted since birth when she was conceived out of wedlock. In Margaret's distorted eyes, she views Carrie as the embodiment of Sin in the flesh.

Because of this, Margaret became verbally abusive, controlling and even flat out cruel towards her own daughter, thinking she was doing this for Carrie's own good, to save her poisoned and condemned soul. And Margaret also believed that her all mighty chastising and misogynist God she worshipped so, would someday show mercy and shead salvation on them both when the time for judgment arrived. (So in other words, Margaret was just bats—t insane and everybody knew it.)

As Carrie grew up, she had a very difficult childhood, having no friends or other relitives to love her or keep her company. 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 was never allowed to take showers, in Margaret's eyes, showers were ungodly. And at night, Carrie was not allowed to sleep with a pillow, Margaret did not allow Carrie a pillow.

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
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 develop a pair of her own. But to Stella's shock, Carrie shook her head and said that good girls do not get them and Carrie then referred to breasts as 'dirty pillows' which was a phrase that her mother had put in her head. Suddenly, Margaret came rushing out of her house hysterically, screaming at Carrie for talking with the beautiful neighbor girl, and even called her a "Whore Girl", "Jezebel" and a "Slut", which was heard by Estelle's mother, Mrs. Sheila Horan who politely asked Mrs. White to 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 to stop the mistreatment she received by her child abusing mother. Even as a little girl, Carrie's telekinetic energy was strong enough even then to cause pieces of the atmosphere above earth to come falling down.

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.

When it comes to praying in general, Margaret has taught Carrie the value of prayer as Carrie is forced to get on her knees even as a teen to pray on call, before bedtime and before every meal. This gives Margaret the upper hand and allows her to dominate her daughter through religion, and it is Carrie's strong religious nature Margaret has installed within her that keeps teenagers her age, away from her as it is seen as "uncool".

Inside the closet there are religious pictures hung up upon the walls, Bibles are laid out to read, candles for light and small religious 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
As a nerdy teenage girl who was slowly developing into a woman and had been attending public school since elementary, Carrie White got made fun of on a daily basis. Carrie was an outcast, a complete social regect who was always singled out and relentlessly teased by cruel bullies and by the other popular classmates. Carrie is considered to be at the bottom of the social pyramid.

Since she can remember Carrie has always been the butt of every joke, the scapegoat, the blacksheep, the target for humiliation. Carrie has a reputation that can never be forgotten.

Even a few teachers joined in on the fun making and later recalled Carrie not being anything special nor a superior student, but rarely spoke or even raised hee hand in class, if ever. Carrie's main reason for her social shortcomings is because of her crazy mother, not allowing Carrie to experience anything on her own or be normal and controlling her life in every little way possible. From the daily routines of Carrie's life and even to the un-cool clothes her mother forced her to wear. At home, Carrie was constantly beaten into submission, treated with no respect, 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 subconsciously sabotaging herself because of the lust and desperation she has for fitting in. To her dismay, the attempt backfires, causing Carrie to be an even bigger freak of nature and laughing stock.

When the blood comes for the first time, it arrives coincidentally as Carrie's hand is exploring her vaginal area. It was unclear that she was washing herself, or masturbating while exploring her privates. Possibly for the first time.

The white bar of soap in her hand is something that has different meanings. It resembles two metaphors and can be looked at differently.

The first metaphor represents the cleanliness and purity, the washing of Carrie's virgin body. Wash away the sweat, wash away the Sin. Because cleanliness is next to Godliness. The second metaphor for the white bar of soap can be viewed as Carrie's way of not only washing away all the Sin but also trying to wash away all of the memories of cruelty and torment she has received by her community since first grade. Washing it away in hopes that people will forget about the label she had thrusted upon her against he will, and her reputation for being known as "different". 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.

(Again as said above, in Margaret's religious teachings she believes Carrie is a child of Sin, Sin itself never dies. Therefore Carrie is Sin and has been tainted since birth when she was conceived out of wedlock. Carrie is the embodiment of Sin in the flesh.)

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 is 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.

Bullies of Carrie White
Chris Hargensen is the sociopathic ringleader and main source of Carrie's torment while on her highschool campus. The other bullies are not as viscous nor hostile as Chris and she seems to take much pride in making Carrie's life a living hell and peer pressured the other students into this to keep on Chirs's good side and not be singled out themselves. Chris is also the most popular and wealthy student at her school, while being considered highly attractive. And having a successful Lawyer as a father is a way to threaten and blackmail people into letting her get away with her unpleasant behavoir. Thus, giving her a power of her own which allows her to successfully control her fellow peers by dominatating everyone into taking part in her hatred for Carrie. When Carrie's period comes, it is Chris's idea to have the other girl's throw towels, napkins and tampons at a frantic Carrie. And it is she who begins the chant of: "Plug it up!" And when Chris is punished she feels no remores or guilt for her ways. She even believes it is Carrie to blame when she is banned from her own Senior Prom. Resulting in Her inventing a humiliating plan with the help of her burn out oyfriend Billy Nolan. Billy is a typical douchebag whose mannerisms imply he comes from a lower class upbringing. Billy is the leader of a gang of punks and bullies and is considered the ultimate bad boy of the town. He has the classic tough guy attitude and also seems very sociopathic, even more than Chris. He only partakes in helping Chris get Carrie back because he favors the idea of having sex with a "beautiful rich girl" and doesn't want to lose that.

Chris is also just as guilty for using her boyfriend. She uses Billy to get revenge against Carrie, when in reality Chris has no one to blame but herself from being banned from her own Prom, something that is very important to her superficially. She uses Billy as her means of collecting the pig's blood to fill up the two buckets which she plans to dump on Carrie and her date if she successfully wins the title of Prom Queen. Thus, giving Carrie the ultimate humiliating prank she has yet to receive.

Chris's overall hatred for Carrie is not psychologically explained. It seems she dislikes Carrie just due to her own arrogance, pride, secret insecurities and lack of empathy or understatement for others less fortunate than herself. Who unlike Chris, weren't raised with a silver spoon in they're mouths.

Other students are punished for partaking in the bullying of Carrie. And a guilty Sue Snell, one of the bullies involved in the locker room incident, feels bad for what she did to Carrie, so she comes up with an idea to make it up to her and clear her guilty conscience. She ask her boyfriend Tommy Ross to take Carrie to the Senior Prom. Tommy is the most popular and athletic boy in school, winning awards and metals for his achievements at sports. He is one of the very few students who never partook in the tormenting of Carrie and is considered dreamy and the ultimate jock of the town. Sue only had the best intentions for Carrie, but to her dismay, her attempts at helping Carrie White, backfire tremendously and are ruined by the plans of a vengful Chris Hargensen.

Yet it is Carrie who ends up with the upperhand thanks to her telekinesis.

Black Prom
On prom night, Carrie is all dressed up in a gorgeous homemade dress of rich crushed red velvet with a matching corsage and high heel shoes. She allows her cleavage to show for once by wearing a special push up brassiare bra. For the first time in her life, she actually looks and feels pretty. Thus gaining confidence and allow herself to feel more at ease with her fellow peers.. When Carrie White arrives she is taken back by the Glamour of the Prom. She is accompanied by Sue Snell's boyfriend, the dreamy Tommy Ross who surprisingly forms a small crush on Carrie in secret. To Carrie this is all a dream come true, yet sadly her fantasy is ultimately shattered when she is tricked and humiliated by vindictive and sociopathic students into being elected as Queen of the Prom by one vote. Due to phony ballots that were rigged in plans to successfully out number all the other contestants who were runner ups. 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 cold, thick, wet blanket which come to find out was very smelly rotting blood from a pig.

Tommy Ross, the innocent, is also showered in pig's blood as he sits beside Carrie on the King's throne with a second bucket above as his own as there are two. One for the King, one for the Queen. Despite this Carrie gets soaked the worst. It is stated in the book, that Carrie looked exactly like someone had dipped her in a red bucket of paint. Tommy receives an almost painless death, and is fatally injured when one of the buckets above 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, even the teachers laughed including Rita Desjardin who tries to hide her laughter and walks foward to Carrie to assist her. Carrie uses her telekinesis to strike out at Desjardin and sends her flying across the gym room, so hard that Desjardin is given a bloody nose from the impact. Carrie flees the stage and an anonymous student in the crowd of prom goers trips her. She falls on the floor and the laughter grows louder. Carrie gets back up and runs outside. While barefoot Carrie is all alone but still on campus, 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 her mother that she was right, Carrie breaks.

Suddenly, something evil and mysterious that was deeply hidden within erupts. Carrie's psyche has a dark epiphany, a complete psychological breaking point that snaps inside is released after so many years of silent suffering and homicidal thoughts caged in repression. The feeling quickly takes over Carrie and she transforms from her former self, to a rage-filled zombie. Carrie 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 is time to teach everyone a lesson and show them how terrifying she has now become.

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 as the basketball ball court begins to flood, leaving no one safe from being electrified. 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 school 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. Suddenly, the town's emergency whistle begans to go off, sending a wailing siren sound into the air. The entire school by this point is completely up in flames. Carrie then turns away from the campus and slowly descends down the street and into the town of Chamberlain, Maine to destroy it.

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

The Song of Madness
In a catatonic state, Carrie slowly but forcefully goes on a hellish rampage and destroys the entire town, or most of it at least. Flipping over cars, busting fire hydrants and blowing up gas stations, knocking over telephone poles and using the sparks from the wires to set buildings ablaze with the spilt gasoline in the streets. Soon after, a bright orange glow can be seen in the night sky above the town as the wildfire quickly consumes everything and the town literally disintegrates to nothing more but ruins and ashes, also taking dozens of innocent lives with it.

Carrie telepathically inverts her thoughts of revenge into the minds everyone still alive within the town and shares what she is thinkng with all of the people of Chamberlain. She lets everyone know it is she who has left the town in a state of destruction and everyone who lives there will pay for her life-long suffering once and for all.

Next, she stops at a near by Chapel to pray before going home to Momma who was waiting to kill Carrie. Carrie is in a terrible condition as she approaches her Mother, her dress is tattered and torn, her body is clotted with a mixture of blood, sweat and grease and her knees are scraped and raw.

Margaret's attempts to murder her own daughter first fail and she is killed by Carrie after stabbing her in the back and hitting an artery. Carrie finally kills the two main antagonist and ring leaders of the prank Chris and her boyfriend Billy. When they try to run Carrie over in a car, Carrie uses her power to dodge the oncoming vehicle full force and throws it into a near by strip club setting it and the car ablaze with Chris and Billy trapped inside. Killing them both, instantly.

Carrie becomes weaker and is drained of most her powers. 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 sees 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 and Sue even feels Carrie dying.

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 could not 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 jaded 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 did not evacuate quick enough. They are also haunted by the guilt of having caused, one way or the other the rampage of Carrie and the fact of being seen as ignorant fools and arrogant bullies by the rest of the world makes matters even worse.

After the funeral services are held for the dead, people are packing up and leaving town for good, never to return. Carrie's story becomes so popular that it is eventually made into a movie. This disgust Sue, because she feels that the tragedy is being glamorized for people can just forget about it. But Sue warns and advices everyone that forgetting Carrie White may be a bigger mistake than anyone may realize.

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.

Trivia

 * She also shares similarity to Matilda Wormwood who's a parody of Carrie White from the Roald Dahl book Matilda as they both use their powers to get back at those who tormented them.
 * She was killed by her mother named Margaret who got killed by Carrie and brought back to life by her best friend Sue Snell in the second adaptation (2002) and it is hinted that she lives in the 2013 adaptation as well when cracks appear on her gravestone in the closing sequence.
 * 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 a similarity to Aggie Prenderghast, both being treated as outcasts, both having telekinesis and both used their powers against those who offended them
 * She also shares this similarity withWillow Rosenberg (Alyson Hannigan) 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. Other females characters on the show are also inspired by Carrie. The relationship between Amy Madison (Elisabeth Ann Allen) and her mother (Robin Riker) 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 enemy, Drusilla (Juliet Landau) is depicted in her former human life as a pious, shy and virginal girl like Carrie, haunted by her medium power and considered herself like the devil's gift. Becoming schizophrenic and vampirized, she has a comportment similar to Margaret White. Another medium, Cassie Newton (Azura Sky) is depressed by her own power and has cut all relationships.
 * She has a few similarities with another character, named Kate Marsh from Life is Strange. Both are bullied for being religious by classmates. ( although Kate was bullied for a bad video as well, while Carrie was bullied for being an outcast. ) Both snap at a moment of the story, which causes a great impact on the plot of the story. ( Kate committing suicide, Carrie creating "The Black Prom." )
 * In the 2013 film adaption Carrie was born in 1995 and died in 2013 meaning the film is set in 2013
 * Carrie saves Miss Desjardin and Sue Snell from dying in the 2013 film
 * In the 2013 film adaption, when Carrie tells Sue that her baby is a girl and saves her life from the destruction of her house, it´s possible that Carrie now treats Sue as a friend
 * she is featured in the novel Carrie the return by bowen Hobart