Carrie Themes

In Carrie, puberty is simultaneously a source of terror and power for the titular protagonist. Having been raised by the fundamentalist Margaret White, Carrie has learned to view normal markers of puberty, such as breast development and the growth of pubic hair, as evidence of her sin. Margaret’s hatred for puberty is so intense that she does not even tell Carrie about menstruation, leading to the novel’s opening scene in which Carrie gets…

The stigma around female sexuality, especially the sexuality of teenage girls, is an important driver of Carrie’s plot. Carrie herself is taught from a young age to associate sexual desire with shame thanks to her mother Margaret, who believes that the development of a woman’s body during puberty is the result of sin. Carrie’s shame is the result of Margaret’s own shame, as seen when she admits later in the novel that she…

In Carrie, the cyclical nature of abuse creates much of the conflict in the novel. The most notable instance is with Margaret, Carrie’s mother, who is heavily implied to have been abused and possibly raped by Carrie’s late father Ralph. While Margaret had fundamentalist beliefs before marrying Ralph, the misogynistic abuse she suffers under him is replicated in her raising of Carrie, whom she severely abuses any time she even expresses…

In Stephen King’s Carrie, the desire to atone for one’s sins—whether real or imagined—is a major driver of the novel’s plot. The most explicit manifestation of this is Margaret’s understanding of sin, which largely revolves around sexuality and womanhood. Margaret feels that her own “original sin” is allowing Carrie to live after realizing she had telekinetic powers, and she attempts to atone for her sin first by abusing Carrie, then by attempting to…