Tampons and dirtypillows - these are the two things that stick out most prominently when I think about Carrie. The first comes from the one of the opening scenes in the book - Carrie gets her first period in the locker room shower, in front of all the girls. Because of the town's general dislike for her (due to how different she is) her peers begin to throw tampons at her in a terrible scene of bullying.
The second, dirtypillows (to be said with distaste), is Carrie's mother's name for breasts. I always found it clever, and disturbing.
Carrie has grown up with a christian zealot for a mother. Her mother punishes Carrie by locking her into her 'prayer closet' to beg for forgiveness under "Derrault's conception of Jonathan Edwards' famous sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." [Perhaps this painting] As the story progresses, even as King peppers the narration with 'flash forwards' of Carrie's terrifying powers that leave over 400 people dead, he paints a picture of Carrie as a victim struggling to find her way out of that role. She is unwanted by her mother, her father is dead, and she is the butt of all the jokes. In the end, she discovers a power that is too much for her to handle and she becomes consumed by revenge, hatred, self-hatred, and ultimately her own power.
This is quintessential King - a narrative that plays in time, the anti-hero hero, the supernatural at play, and an ending based in reality (in the sense that life is not always pretty or fun and we would all do well to remember that).
Next up, vampires...'Salems Lot.
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