Carrie by Stephen King
This
book gives great detail on how Carrie is being subjected to child abuse, religion,
and abuse.
Bullying
“Graffiti scratched on a desk in Chamberlain
Junior High School: Roses are red, violets are blue, sugar is sweet, but Carrie
White eats shit” (Page 22)
This shows how Carrie was being
abused by people in her school. Things like this were posted everywhere in the
school and it was the reason that Carrie had felt so isolated and broken on the
inside when on the outside she appeared like it didn't bother her at all.
Today, a lot of kids are being subjected to this kind of bullying and that this
can affect them deeply just as it had done to Carrie White.
“Then the laughter,
disgusted, contemptuous, horrified, seemed to rise and bloom into something
jagged and ugly, and the girls were bombarding her with sanitary napkins...”
(Page 9)
This shows how bullying can also
turn physical rather than just using verbal bullying. Nobody had even tried to
help Carrie when she was being hit with napkins and yelled at because nobody
cared, this happens in many other places besides a made up book. Girls all over
the world are being hit with this kind of bullying that can result in suicides
and girls hurting themselves, Carrie White is just one example of it.
“This girl,
Carietta White, was called ‘a dumb pudding’ and was told to ‘plug it up’” (Page
81)
This shows how Carrie was being
bullied by girls and was being called names. I think that with all of this
bullying that was done to Carrie just may have resulted her in feeling bad
about her and actually kept her from making any friends. She simply tolerated
it and kept down like many girls do so.
Abuse
“There had been
times when Momma had kept her in the closet for as long as a day at a stretch”
(page 68)
This shows that Carrie wasn't only being abused at school but she was also being abused at home by her own
mother. This reminds me of how some kids in this world are being abused by
their parents. Carrie must have been feeling completely depressed because she
was being abused both in school as well as at home.
“She swung her whole arm into the blow ,and
the sound of her palm against Carrie’s face was like that flat sound of a
leather belt being snapped in the air” (Page 113)
This happened right after Carrie’s
mother had found out that Carrie was asked to the prom. This showed that Carrie’s
mother never supported Carrie in anything. In a way this was abuse too besides
the fact that Carrie’s mother resolved everything with violence. Carrie had
never gotten self-confidence from her mother; instead all she got was abuse.
“She was whirled
into the closet headfirst and she struck the far wall and fell on the floor in
a semi daze.” (Page 67)
This showed how Carrie’s mother
always forced Carrie into everything whether or not she wanted to, such as
going into the closet. Carrie always was abused like this which over time
probably developed into hatred for her mother. There are many example of Carrie
being abused in all kinds of ways, this is just an example of many.
Religion
“Go to your closet.
Pray in secret. Ask forgiveness for your sin” (Page 66)
After Carrie had told her mother
that she had gotten her first period, immediately Carrie’s mother freaked out
and told her to pray. Throughout the whole book religion was focused heavily on
because of Carrie’s mother. She believed that God made a sin and if you break
it then you get a period. She believed her own crazy thoughts on religion even
when the bible said otherwise. She influenced Carrie a lot based on religion as
well.
“Due to the Whites’
near-fanatical fundamentalist religious beliefs, Mrs. White had no friend to
see her through her period of bereavement” (Page 15)
This showed how heavily focused
Carrie’s mother was on religion. She didn't have any friends because of this
and also prevented Carrie to make friends too. Because of Carrie’s mother,
Carrie didn't make any friends and therefore was constantly abused because of
religion.
“Momma seemed in
the throes of some great revelation which might destroy her” (Page 114)
This showed how deeply infused
Carrie’s mother was with religion. She had let it take over her life and let it
guide her instead of her own personal instinct. This had affected Carrie
greatly because she was often abused by her mother in the ways of religion. As
of many children’s lives, religion takes
a great toll on their lives and for Carrie, it had taken her on a path of
abuse.
Julia Nowak 811
