My thoughts on Carrie White *Spoilers*

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Kurben

The Fool on the Hill
Apr 12, 2014
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No. Although it is no doubt disgusting, to the best of my knowledge pig's blood is not lethal. In addition, my recollection is that Carrier murdered a whole lot of people that were not involved in that act out of anger and rage. She is a sympathetic character in many respects because we see the narrative through her eyes and plenty of other characters in the story act reprehensibly toward her. But that doesn't absolve her of those actions. In a fictional context, it's possible to adopt the viewpoint of the main character and share their motivations. In real life, if you read a story about a prank that resulted in a student wiping out the school and killing her classmates, you would have little or no sympathy for her.
Couldn't you, just theoretically, make a case that she was a victim of a homicide attempt.? I mean, if that bucket had hit her on the head it could have killed her. And no mather if it was murder or not, I'll stand in her corner. She is not the most likeable of characters but she is the protaginist of the story. I remember feeling, yyeees! Go get them.
 

Kurben

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Apr 12, 2014
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She'd be found not guilty. No doubt.
Depends. Will the jury go for the mind as a weapon? I think a defense lawyer could have done a lot with the fact that she didn't have the oppurtunity to do it. Without her Force i mean. And even if there were witnesses .... Would the jury believe them or that they were hallucinating. People tend to search for logical answers to things. Especially in court they would rather go for accident, perhaps a gasleak or something that started the fire. Rather that than actually believe that a girl, with her mind could do that.
 

kingricefan

All-being, keeper of Space, Time & Dimension.
Jul 11, 2006
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Depends. Will the jury go for the mind as a weapon? I think a defense lawyer could have done a lot with the fact that she didn't have the oppurtunity to do it. Without her Force i mean. And even if there were witnesses .... Would the jury believe them or that they were hallucinating. People tend to search for logical answers to things. Especially in court they would rather go for accident, perhaps a gasleak or something that started the fire. Rather that than actually believe that a girl, with her mind could do that.
That's why I said she would be found not guilty. There's no way anyone would believe that a little teenage girl could do what she did.
 

Garriga

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Nov 26, 2010
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Actually i think there are a few more female characters. Beverly Marsh in IT is beuatiful, yes, but she certainly a full character that takes a stand. She doesn't do it alone but it is her own decision. No one is making the decision for her or trying to persuade her. I'm sure there are more of them. but the hours grows late.

Abra from Dr. Sleep. Great character.
 

Edinboro

Member
This was the first King book I had read, finished it in less than twenty-four hours. I've read it a few more times throughout the years. Great writing for a debut book (although I understand some Bachman Books were written prior to this one)..

However in On Writing King Says: "I never trusted Sue Snell's motives in sending her boyfriend to the prom with her"....I don't understand it. Her motive and character seemed believable in it to me. Thoughts?
 

blunthead

Well-Known Member
Aug 2, 2006
80,755
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Atlanta GA
No. Although it is no doubt disgusting, to the best of my knowledge pig's blood is not lethal. In addition, my recollection is that Carrier murdered a whole lot of people that were not involved in that act out of anger and rage. She is a sympathetic character in many respects because we see the narrative through her eyes and plenty of other characters in the story act reprehensibly toward her. But that doesn't absolve her of those actions. In a fictional context, it's possible to adopt the viewpoint of the main character and share their motivations. In real life, if you read a story about a prank that resulted in a student wiping out the school and killing her classmates, you would have little or no sympathy for her.
Let's not forget that Carrie was never your run-of-the-mill. She was born with a gift, or curse, which changes everything in terms of figuring her duties toward society relative to the rest of us. She killed people due to this discrepancy, not because she necessarily chose to. Anyone else would simply have been humiliated, intimidated, and infuriated, and that's as far as it would've gotten short of that person deciding to act. Did Carrie decide to destroy?
 

Kurben

The Fool on the Hill
Apr 12, 2014
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This was the first King book I had read, finished it in less than twenty-four hours. I've read it a few more times throughout the years. Great writing for a debut book (although I understand some Bachman Books were written prior to this one)..

However in On Writing King Says: "I never trusted Sue Snell's motives in sending her boyfriend to the prom with her"....I don't understand it. Her motive and character seemed believable in it to me. Thoughts?
I can understand his doubts. We don't have a prom in sweden but from what I understand it is a very important thing. Even if Sue Snell felt regret and wanted to make up somehow would she want to miss her own prom? Her character seems to be a girl that appreciates that kind of thing and if she wanted to do something for Carrie she probably would have chosen an other way. In that way i do think that her motive for that action is kind of weak and not totally trustworthy. That at least is my interpretation of Kings words in On Writing. Any other ideas out there?
 

RichardX

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Sep 26, 2006
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Couldn't you, just theoretically, make a case that she was a victim of a homicide attempt.? I mean, if that bucket had hit her on the head it could have killed her. And no mather if it was murder or not, I'll stand in her corner. She is not the most likeable of characters but she is the protaginist of the story. I remember feeling, yyeees! Go get them.

If you are talking about self-defense, it likely would not apply to killing those who were directly responsible for dropping the blood on her even if that had posed a risk. Much less to the other victims who had no association to that act whatsover. She would not have been in fear for her life after it already happened and was over. If someone fires a shot at you and misses, and you chase after them and kill them while they are running away (including some innocent bystanders) then it is no longer self-defense but retaliation. One important aspect of this discussion is the notion empathy. When you read about some horrible event in the paper the reaction often is that the person responsible was evil. And that may be the case in many instances. But if you knew every terrible thing that ever happened to them from their own perspective, it might become much more complicated. Like King says everyone is the hero of their own narrative. Not many people go around thinking they are the bad guy. In the real world, I don't think many people would condone mass killings at a school because the kids had been unkind or bullied someone. In a fictional context, you can understand the motivations of someone like Carrie and the notion of revenge might be appealing because no one really gets hurt in a fictional story. You can really stick it to the bad guys and atone for the wrongs without consequences because they are just characters in a book.
 

Kurben

The Fool on the Hill
Apr 12, 2014
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If you are talking about self-defense, it likely would not apply to killing those who were directly responsible for dropping the blood on her even if that had posed a risk. Much less to the other victims who had no association to that act whatsover. She would not have been in fear for her life after it already happened and was over. If someone fires a shot at you and misses, and you chase after them and kill them while they are running away (including some innocent bystanders) then it is no longer self-defense but retaliation. One important aspect of this discussion is the notion empathy. When you read about some horrible event in the paper the reaction often is that the person responsible was evil. And that may be the case in many instances. But if you knew every terrible thing that ever happened to them from their own perspective, it might become much more complicated. Like King says everyone is the hero of their own narrative. Not many people go around thinking they are the bad guy. In the real world, I don't think many people would condone mass killings at a school because the kids had been unkind or bullied someone. In a fictional context, you can understand the motivations of someone like Carrie and the notion of revenge might be appealing because no one really gets hurt in a fictional story. You can really stick it to the bad guys and atone for the wrongs without consequences because they are just characters in a book.
OK. So just lets toss empathy at the side of the road. And feeling and the rest of it. But do you think that Carrie could have been convicted? I don't think so. From a juridical point of view all she had to do was to say i survived, but i don't know why. No witnesses to point her out. And even if there were one the jury would be asked to believe in forces that are not proven to exist. She would have walked out of that courtroom with not guilty ringing in her ears. Ok. so we toss in moral, and ethics and all that hard stuff again. Then, of course, she is guilty of murder though she was provoked. But then so are a lot of "good" guys. She struck out, in anger and reflex, at the bad and killed a lot of innocent bystanders. So do drones, or bombs and mines. By some reason we don't seem to matter much over the civilians they kill. As long as they are sent by the "good" guys. They are collateral damage. That was what the bystanders was in carries case. They were as they put it in the wrong place at the wrong time. In carries case we must remember that it wasn't her intention from the beginning to kill anyone. She didn't plan anything. She was hit and struck back in any way she could in every direction she could without doing much thinking anymore. With the forces that then were let loose the result was disastrous and tragic. And i don't see her as the hero of the story. I don't think there is a hero in this story. Carrie is the protagonist but is not very likeable. This is one of Kings WHAT IF-scenarios. A situation that happen all over the world when a gang pull a cruel prank on a girl the girl gets angry and her fist breaks one of the gangs nose. This is the same situation but here the girl has powers that get out of control by the cruelty. And so..a tragedy occurs. There exists no plan to retaliate or to take revange. And in the real world i'm always on the girls, not the gangs side. So i am in carries corner here. You have to buy Kings What If-scenario. Don't mix in the real worlds schoolkillings here. They don't fit. They are planned and thought out beforehand.
 

EMTP513

Well-Known Member
Oct 31, 2012
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Actually, I had sympathy for her and I'm not even the kind of person who can find any understanding for people who commit heinous crimes. I'm all for capital punishment when they qualify for it (not every murderer can be considered for the death penalty.)
I still think what she did was wrong but for some reason felt sympathy for her anyway. It's probably because the author WASN'T judgmental when he wrote the scene.
The people who wrote about having no sympathy for Clayton Lockett - he of the botched execution in Oklahoma - climbed on a moral highhorse, and flat-out accused anybody who was for capital punishment of being insensitive, terrible people and implied we were inhumane.
And never freakin' mind that he buried his victim while she was still alive, then waited for her to die. That information was never even mentioned.
If he'd done that in the book, I probably would have rejected it there too and felt no sorrow whatsoever for her.
I don't know where people get off making such judgments on people they've never met. Especially when they've never seen the person face to face as opposed to on the Internet.