Carrie

“Carrie had been going to school with some of them since the first grade, and this had been building since that time, building slowly and immutably, in accordance with all the laws that govern human nature, building with all the steadiness of a chain reaction approaching critical mass.”

This passage establishes the foreboding tone of the epistolary sections, framing Carrie’s massacre is inevitable and likening the process of unleashing her telekinesis to the mechanism of an atomic bomb. The mention of “the laws that govern human nature” reflects the novel’s psychological and investigative focus as it charts Carrie’s path toward the slaughter of her classmates.

“Sue was throwing them too, throwing and chanting with the rest, not really sure what she was doing—a charm had occurred to her mind and it glowed there like neon: There’s no harm in it really no harm in it really no harm—It was still flashing and glowing, reassuringly, when Carrie suddenly began to howl and back away, flailing her arms and grunting and gobbling.”

Sue is swept in the maelstrom of the mob. The repetition of a self-confirming argument over and over allows Sue to convince herself to assault a girl she pitied moments before. The flashing and glowing self-speak facilitates the dehumanization of Carrie—in a single sentence she is compared to a dog, a pig, and a turkey.

“If only it would be today and Jesus coming not with a lamb and a shepherd’s crook, but with a boulder in each hand to crush the laughers and the snickerers, to root out the evil and destroy it screaming—a terrible Jesus of blood and righteousness.

And if only she could be His sword and His arm.”

This passage provides insight into Carrie’s conception of power, framed by her religious upbringing and her building aggression. The promise of Jesus’s Second Coming, in which the meek and downtrodden will gain power, receives a violent interpretation through Carrie’s increasing need for retribution. There is no middle ground for understanding; even this early in the novel, Carrie’s rage dictates that all transgressors must be punished.