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Carrie is an American novel featured on ABC's Once Upon a Time. It was written by the American author Stephen King in 1974.
Traditional Plot
In the Maine town of Chamberlain in the year 1979, Carietta "Carrie" White is a 16-year-old girl who is a target of ridicule for her frumpy appearance and unusual religious beliefs, instilled by her despotic mother, Margaret. One day, Carrie has her first period while showering in the girls' locker room after a physical education class. Carrie is terrified, having no understanding of menstruation as her mother, who despises everything related to intimacy, never told her about it. While Carrie believes she is dying, her classmates, led by a wealthy, popular girl named Chris Hargensen, insult her and throw tampons and sanitary napkins at her. The gym teacher, Rita Desjardin, helps Carrie clean up and tries to explain. On the way home, Carrie practices her unusual ability to control objects from a distance. The only time she recalls using this power was when she was three years old and caused stones to fall from the sky by her house. Once Carrie gets home, Margaret furiously accuses Carrie of sin and locks her in a closet so that she may pray.
The next day, Desjardin reprimands the girls who bullied Carrie and gives them a week's detention; Chris defiantly leaves and is punished with suspension and exclusion from the prom. After an unsuccessful bid to get her privileges reinstated through her influential father, Chris decides to exact revenge on Carrie. Sue Snell, another popular girl who tormented Carrie in the locker room, feels ashamed of her behavior; she convinces her boyfriend, Tommy Ross, to invite Carrie to the prom instead. Carrie is suspicious, but accepts and begins sewing herself a prom dress. Meanwhile, Chris persuades her boyfriend Billy Nolan and his friends to gather two buckets of pig blood as she prepares a measure to rig the prom queen election in Carrie's favor.
The prom initially goes well for Carrie: Tommy's friends are welcoming, and Tommy finds that he is attracted to Carrie as a friend. Chris's plan to rig the election is successful, and Carrie and Tommy are elected prom queen and king. However, at the moment of the coronation, Chris, from outside, dumps the pig blood onto Carrie's and Tommy's heads. Tommy is knocked unconscious by one of the buckets and dies due to serious blood loss. The sight of Carrie drenched in blood invokes laughter from the audience. Carrie leaves the building, humiliated.
Outside, Carrie remembers her telekinesis and decides to enact vengeance on her tormentors. Using her powers, she hermetically seals the gym, activates the sprinkler system, inadvertently electrocutes many of her classmates, and causes a fire that eventually ignites the school's fuel tanks, causing a massive explosion that destroys the building. Those present at the prom are killed by electric shock, the fire, or the smoke. Carrie, in an overwhelming fit of rage, thwarts any incoming effort to fight the fire by opening the hydrants within the school's vicinity, then destroys gas stations and cuts power lines on her way home. As she walks home, she unleashes her powers on the town, destroying several buildings and killing hundreds of people. As she does all this, she broadcasts a telepathic message, making all the townspeople aware that the carnage was caused by her, even if they do not know who she is.
Carrie returns home to confront Margaret, who believes Carrie has been possessed by Satan and must be killed. Margaret tells her that her conception was a result of what may have been marital rape. She stabs Carrie in the shoulder with a kitchen knife, but Carrie kills her by mentally stopping her heart. Mortally wounded, Carrie makes her way to the roadhouse where she was conceived. She sees Chris and Billy leaving, having been informed of the destruction by one of Billy's friends. After Billy attempts to run Carrie over, she mentally takes control of his car and sends it racing into a wall, killing both Billy and Chris.
Sue, who has been following Carrie's "broadcast," finds her collapsed in the parking lot, bleeding out from the knife wound. The two have a brief telepathic conversation. Carrie had believed that Sue and Tommy had set her up for the prank, but realizes that Sue is innocent and has never felt real animosity towards her. Carrie forgives her, then dies crying out for her mother.
A state of emergency is declared and the survivors make plans to relocate. Chamberlain foresees desolation in spite of the government allocation of finances toward rehabilitating the worker districts. Desjardin and the school's principal blame themselves for what happened and resign from teaching. Sue publishes a memoir based on her experiences. A "White Committee" report investigating paranormal abilities concludes that there are and will be others like Carrie. An Appalachian woman enthusiastically writes to her sister about her baby daughter's telekinetic powers and reminisces about their grandmother, who had similar abilities.
Show Adaptation
- The show's rendition of the famous horror novel is a fairytale version, but unlike most of the fairytales featured on the show, this rendition takes place in the Land Without Magic; just like the source material. ("Flower Child")
- Like the titular character, Gothel has magic powers and a protective mother; however, unlike the deluded, abusive and fanatically religious mother from the novel, Flora is a loving mother figure to Gothel. ("Flower Child")
- Like Carrie White, Gothel is unhappy with her sheltered life and decides to mingle with the regular girls, against her mother's wishes; but ends up being humiliated by them. Just like the titular character, she plans on attending a ball and gets a special dress for the occasion. During the party, a group of house sisters and their leader, Isla, pour a bucket of mud onto Gothel; similar to the iconic scene where Chris Hargensen and the other bullies dump a bucket of pigs' blood onto the titular character at the prom. ("Flower Child")
- After their attack on Gothel, Isla and the other girls go to the tree nymphs' home using Gothel's key, where they kill them all with fire and axes. When she discovers what they did, Gothel, still covered in mud, takes her revenge by going back to the ball and using her magic powers to lock the doors and kill all the guests. This is similar to the way Carrie, covered in pigs' blood, locks everyone in and slaughters all the guests at the school prom with her telekinetic powers. ("Flower Child")
- Isla and the other girls go to the tree nymphs' home, where they kill all the inhabitants with fire and axes. Afterward, Gothel finds Flora in the ruins of her old home and Flora dies in her arms. In the novel, Carrie goes home and her mother dies at her hands. The Whites' house then catches fire and Sue Snell later finds it in flames. ("Flower Child")
- One member of Isla's clique, Seraphina, first joins her friends in taunting Gothel; she later feels remorse for her actions and starts to make amends. Gothel and Seraphina have a conversation in which the latter is revealed to have magical powers, and Gothel sees that she played no part in murdering the tree nymphs, leading her to spare her life. This is similar to Sue Snell, who first joins her classmates in tormenting Carrie (it is implied that she acted under peer pressure), but afterward she feels remorse for her actions and tries to make amends with Carrie. She and Carrie have a conversation, in which Sue is revealed to have telepathic powers and Carrie sees that she played no part in Chris' plan, leading her to spare her life. ("Flower Child")
- After slaughtering the guests at the ball, Gothel, still covered in mud, proceeds to wipe out the rest of the human population in the world. In the novel, Carrie, while walking home in her bloodstained dress, destroys most of the town with her telekinetic powers, killing hundreds of people. ("Flower Child")
Trivia
- Like most of Stephen King's novels, the story of Carrie is set in Maine, the same state where Storybrooke is located.
- In "Smash the Mirror," Regina says that her happy ending "is not a Stephen King book-on-tape."
- Coincidentally, Emilie de Ravin starred as the bully Chris Hargensen in the 2002 television film adaptation of the novel, a film which also stars fellow Once Upon a Time actor Rena Sofer as the titular character's teacher.
- Carrie also happens to be the favorite book of Juliet Burke, Elizabeth Mitchell's character from Lost. Mitchell also portrays Ingrid, whose dangerous magic leads to the near destruction of Storybrooke.
Characters Featured
| Original Character | Adapted as | First Featured in |
|---|---|---|
| Carrie White | Gothel | "Flower Child" |
| Chris Hargensen | Isla | "Flower Child" |
| Chris' friends | House sisters | "Flower Child" |
| Margaret White | Flora (allusion) | "Flower Child" |
| Sue Snell | Seraphina | "Flower Child" |
Locations featured
| Original location | Adapted as | First featured in |
|---|---|---|
| School prom | Lord Adriel's ball room | "Flower Child" |
| Whites' house | Tree nymphs' grove | "Flower Child" |
References
| This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Wikipedia (view authors). |