Carrie (novel)

Carrie is the debut horror novel by American author Stephen King, released in 1974. Set in the town of Chamberlain, Maine, the plot revolves around Carrie White, a friendless high school girl from an abusive religious household who has telekinetic powers. After a cruel prank pulled by one of her bullies on prom night, Carrie decides to take revenge.

King wrote Carrie with the intention of submitting it to be published originally as a short story for the men's magazine Cavalier following the suggestion of a friend that he write a story about a female character. Though King initially gave up on Carrie due to discomfort and apathy, and felt it would never be successful, his wife Tabitha convinced him to continue writing, and rescued the first three pages of the story from the trash. He followed her advice and expanded it into a novel. King based the character of Carrie on two girls he knew in high school and enjoyed fabricating the documents for the narrative. After Doubleday accepted Carrie to be published, King worked with editor Bill Thompson to revise the novel.

Carrie was published on April 5, 1974, with a print run of 30,000 copies, and a paperback edition was published by New American Library in April 1975. The paperback edition became a best seller, particularly after the release of the 1976 film adaptation, reaching four million sales. The novel received generally positive reviews, both contemporaneously and retrospectively. Carrie, King's debut novel, helped launch his career and achieve him mainstream success. It has also been credited with reviving mainstream interest in horror fiction and being influential among contemporary horror writers. Three film adaptations have been released, with one getting a sequel, while a musical adaptation premiered in 1988, and a television miniseries is in production.

In 1979, Carietta "Carrie" White, a 16-year-old girl in Chamberlain, Maine, is ridiculed for her weight, her clothes, and the unusual religious beliefs instilled by her fanatical mother Margaret. One day while showering after physical education class, Carrie has her first period. As Margaret has never taught her about menstruation, Carrie panics, believing she is bleeding to death. Her classmates, led by a popular girl named Chris Hargensen, mock her and throw tampons and sanitary napkins at the hysterical Carrie. The gym teacher, Rita Desjardin, intervenes and attempts to comfort Carrie before sending her home for the day.

While walking home, Carrie unconsciously uses telekinesis to push a taunting child from his bicycle. Realizing what she has done, Carrie recalls childhood incidents in which other unusual events occurred, including a time when stones fell from the sky as a response to abuse from her mother. Carrie wonders if she can make such things happen at will.

Arriving home, Carrie tells her mother that her menses have started and blames Margaret for never explaining menstruation to her. Margaret believes that Carrie's sinfulness caused her to begin menstruating and locks her in a closet as punishment.

The next day, Desjardin reprimands the girls who bullied Carrie and gives them a week's detention as punishment. Chris refuses to comply and is punished with suspension and exclusion from the prom. After her influential father fails to reinstate her, Chris decides to take revenge on Carrie. Another girl involved in the incident, Sue Snell, asks her boyfriend Tommy to invite Carrie to the prom as a way of atoning for the locker room bullying. Carrie is suspicious at first, but accepts. Learning that Carrie will be attending prom, Chris persuades her boyfriend Billy and his gang of greasers to gather pig's blood while she prepares to rig the prom queen election in Carrie's favor. Her plan is to humiliate Carrie in front of the whole school by rigging buckets of blood to fall on her during the coronation of prom queen.

Carrie begins preparing for prom night, all while secretly learning to control her telekinetic powers. Margaret realizes that her daughter has inherited the same telekinetic abilities Margaret's grandmother possessed and attributes them to witchcraft, but is initially too frightened to address the issue directly. Instead she begs Carrie not to attend the prom, considering it an occasion of sin. Carrie uses her powers to thwart Margaret's attempts to stop her.