Adolescence is one of the most challenging transitions in a young person’s life, what with the struggle to fit in at school, changing bodies, and growing independence. Add in a psychotic single mother, intense religious pressure, bullying, and telekinetic powers, Stephen King’s Carrie is a recipe for suburban disaster. The novel arouses a sense of unsettling fear as Carrie White experiences physical and emotional abuse from both her mother and peers, all while experiencing the natural horrors of puberty and radical religion. In fact, perhaps the least terrifying aspect of the book is Carrie’s supernatural powers. The only reason that her telekinetic abilities take a violent turn is due to an unending cycle of abuse and shame that is thrust upon Carrie. Evangelical Christianity (which, in this novel, is a bit exaggerated a bit for entertainment purposes) in Carrie is the driving force for Carrie White’s alienation, repression of her own sexuality, and shame.



“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?”

from Carrie by Stephen King

King chose, perhaps deliberately, to set the novel in the quiet suburbs of Chamberlain, Maine. The suburbs are an idyllic symbol of American life- stereotypically comfortable living conditions, generally not tumultuous, with a strong sense of conformity. The houses are the same, the landscape is uniform, and the people are all cookie-cutter versions of each other- except, of course, for the White family. Margaret White, Carrie’s mother, is incredibly dedicated to an even more radical form of Christianity than Evangelical Christianity. Her practices include screaming Bible verses at her daughter, locking Carrie in a closet to repent for her sins, and self-harm in the name of redemption. While the Whites simply appear “odd” to their peers and neighbors, they prove that “even the most ordinary‐looking neighborhood, or house, or family, has something to hide, and that no matter how calm and settled a place looks, it is only ever a moment away from dramatic (and generally sinister) incident.” (Madden 2017) Forced to compromise between her budding sexuality and her mother’s violent insistence on perfect piety, Carrie is unable to commit fully to either, and is cast as an outsider because of this.

While it may seem easy to blame Margaret White for the destruction that Carrie eventually brings to Chamberlain, it is likely that Margaret was not the initiator of this abusive cycle. Margaret vehemently believes that Carrie deserves punishment because she was born into sin, conceived out of lust and under the implication of rape. Margaret frequently refers to intercourse between Adam and Eve as “the original sin.” She therefore believes that the abuse she delivers unto Carrie is “rather what women must simply accept and bear as a natural consequence of being a woman.” (Appelros 2014) It’s quite probable that Margaret doesn’t even view her actions toward Carrie as abusive, the way many Christians believe that suffering leads to redemption. Margaret may believe that she is saving her daughter, while Appelros suggests that “Should, for instance, someone beat a woman into subjection, or lock her up to prevent her from getting a job or meeting friends, these are obvious violations of her rights,” (Appelros 2014) which are some actual examples of what Margaret does to Carrie.





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12wHDwNXBL0 Carrie (1976) copyright of Red Bank Films

In a 1990 study, Mary Malone found that “Christianity has been a primary-in many women’s lives the primary-force in shaping [their] acceptance of abuse.” (Malone 1990) The theme of the acceptance of suffering is largely due to the importance Christianity places on the redemption gained through suffering and sacrifice. Christ suffers on the cross for the good of mankind, Abraham sacrifices his son because of the will of God, and so on. The same study also found that, even upon seeking help to recover from this religiously-motivated abuse, “the Christian ‘virtues’ taught to children impede this journey of recovery.” (Malone 1990) Perhaps this is why Carrie finds it so difficult to fight back against her cruel classmates- she is accustomed to abuse, and she isn’t familiar with any other way of life. Without a peer support group, Carrie is left to deal with her oppression and depression on her own. Her cruel alienation from other high schoolers is the final straw on top of her repressed emotions that sends her into a violent killing spree. A common saying is “If you can’t beat them, join them.” Carrie, on the other hand, seems to live by just the opposite: “If you can’t join them, beat them.”



“But hardly anybody ever finds out that their actions really, actually, hurt other people! People don’t get better, they just get smarter. When you get smarter you don’t stop pulling the wings off flies, you just think of better reasons for doing it.” from Carrie by Stephen King

Carrie’s depression and frustration are no work of fiction. Many adolescents find growing up to be an incredibly difficult adjustment on its own, but “research suggests that the lack of support from both family members and peers seems to be related to higher levels of depressive symptoms.” (Moles 2017) Carrie not only lacks this support, she is vehemently antagonized by both groups. Constantly shamed and guilted, she is forced to repress her anger, sadness, and frustration. The stress of hiding her true self, along with her unfortunate living situation, causes her anger to bubble over during her symbolic “dark baptism”- she is the butt of a cruel joke at prom, when the popular kids drench her in pig’s blood. In this moment, Carrie liberates herself from the pious, painful, and oppressive chains that binds her. Having never learned a healthy way of coping with her negative emotions, Carrie brutally slaughters almost the entire town of Chamberlain, taking down herself and her mother in the process. Moles (2017) asserts that “negative spiritual coping or spiritual struggle have been assessed in their association with depression,” and that certainly rings true in Carrie. Her internal battle with her emotions leads her to homicide, matricide, and suicide.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxWp2fPU49Q Carrie (2013) copyright of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures

While the concept of fundamentalist religion is clearly dramatized and exaggerated in King’s novel, it is certainly not far off from many people’s very real situations. Dealing with stress from every aspect of her life and betrayed by her mother, schoolmates, and her own body (referring to the shower scene when Carrie unknowingly experiences menstruation for the first time), Carrie understandably sinks into a spiraling depression, like many teens do. When adolescents don’t learn how to healthily deal with these dark emotions, tragedy can occur, as seen in the growing number of school shootings around the country. Carrie, however, is equipped with her very own weapon of mass destruction- the power of telekinesis- but other than this, Carrie is no different from other teens, which begs the question: What compels a potentially sweet girl to mass murder and entire town? When the only reference for coping with hardship is a Holy book heavily saturated in blood, and when she is surrounded by constant cruelty and pressure to conform, perhaps the only foreseeable option for Carrie is to set a high school aflame and rain rocks from the heavens.

Carrie (2013) copyright of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures

Works Cited





1. Appelros, Erica. 2014. “Gender within Christian Fundamentalism: A Philosophical Analysis of Conceptual Oppression.” International Journal of Philosophy and Theology 75 (5): 460–73. doi:10.1080/21692327.2015.1036906.



2. Madden, Victoria. 2017. “‘We Found the Witch, May We Burn Her?’: Suburban Gothic, Witch-Hunting, and Anxiety-Induced Conformity in Stephen King’s Carrie.” Journal of American Culture (Malden, MA), no. 1: 7. doi:10.1111/jacc.12675.



3. Malone, Mary T. 1990. “Christianity, Patriarchy and Abuse: A Feminist Critique.” The Conrad Grebel Review 8 (3): 333–36. http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.lib.usf.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=rfh&AN=ATLA0000605069&site=eds-live.



4. Moles, Katia. 2017. “Teaching Sexuality and Christianity for Perspective Transformation: Suggested Resources and Strategies.” Teaching Theology & Religion 20 (2): 175–88. http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.lib.usf.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ1137085&site=eds-live.