Carrie: Part 1: Pages 50-91 Summary & Analysis

A snippet of Ogilvie’s Dictionary of Psychic Phenomena defines telekinesis, speculating that it is an electrochemical feature of the mind. In Tommy’s car, Sue redresses. She’s been dating Tommy since the fall and the two have had sex twice, but neither have been especially pleasurable for Sue, and Tommy didn’t use the condom properly the first time. She thinks about Carrie and begins to cry, concerning Tommy. She confides in him about the locker room incident, which she feels remorseful about. Although Sue is popular, this makes her feel uneasy, as it comes with a sort of complacency and ability to avoid thinking deeply about things. She does not want to become a typical PTA mom who is unhappy with her life, and her willingness to join in taunting Carrie seems to confirm her fears.

Tommy gently chastises Sue for her behavior, then tells her about how, in seventh grade, he kicked his bully on the playground after the boy was already pushed over and knocked unconscious. He admits he didn’t apologize, but he tells Sue that at least he had a reason for doing it, while Sue has barely spoken to Carrie. Sue snaps at Tommy, then apologizes, admitting she’s ashamed. She asks him if he ever resents being popular, but he tells her that high school isn’t an important place in the long run. He half-jokes about his lackluster future, which upsets Sue. She tells him to have sex with her again, and Sue orgasms for the first time. Later, Tommy asks her to the Spring Ball.

The 1981 journal article “Telekinesis: Analysis and Aftermath” discusses scientists who refuse to accept the implications of Carrie White’s powers since they shake the foundation of scientific knowledge. At the White house, Carrie sews while Margaret listens to hymns. Earlier in the day, Margaret comes home from work after receiving a call from the school and strikes Carrie for getting her period. She beats Carrie as she recites the sins of Eve, ignoring Carrie’s cries that Margaret should have told her about menstruation. Eventually, Margaret tells Carrie to get into the closet.

Carrie resists Margaret, telling her that she is the real sinner for refusing to tell Carrie about menstruation. She threatens to “bring the stones again,” enraging Margaret and causing her to momentarily strangle Carrie. Margaret calls Carrie a devil spawn, which enrages Carrie; she screams, calling Margaret a “fuck.” This is the first time she’s ever sworn at her mother. Margaret throws Carrie into the closet, where Carrie stays for six hours before she breaks and begs to be let out. Margaret complies almost immediately, which is unusual for her. Now, three hours later, Carrie sits at her sewing machine, finishing a red dress. She politely asks Margaret if she can go to bed, and Margaret says yes. As Carrie goes upstairs, she knows that Margaret let her out because she was scared Carrie would wrench the closet door off of its hinges—and Carrie knows that she could.

The Shadow Exploded covers Margaret’s background, in which she became involved in fundamentalist churches despite an areligious upbringing. She had a bad relationship with her mother Judith and stepfather Harold, whom she viewed as dirty sinners. After marrying Ralph in 1962, she was admitted to the hospital for paranoid behavior; Judith believed she’d had a miscarriage. Despite this, Margaret wrote a letter to Judith and Harold later about how she and Ralph were living “sinlessly” without intercourse. However, Carrie was conceived that same year.

In the present day, Miss Desjardin’s female students dress quietly for class until their teacher comes in. Miss Desjardin comes in and chastises them for their cruelty, especially Chris Hargensen. Chris tries to walk out, but Miss Desjardin slams her against the lockers, shocking Chris. She tells the girls that their punishment will be a week’s detention, and if they don’t show up, they’ll be suspended for three days and banned from prom. She then leaves. Chris responds with rage, declaring that this isn’t over. In an excerpt of The Shadow Exploded, Congress speculates that the rain of stones in Carrie’s childhood was an isolated, extraordinary incident, and that her second instance of telekinesis was similarly singular—but, unfortunately, Margaret White, the closest witness to Carrie’s telepathy, is now dead.

That Friday, Chris’s father John, a powerful lawyer, shows up to principal Henry Grayle’s office. Hargensen complains about Miss Desjardin’s treatment of Chris, threatening to sue for verbal and physical abuse unless she is fired, and Chris is allowed to attend prom. Grayle counters by telling Hargensen about Chris’s treatment of Carrie and alluding to Chris’s numerous other disciplinary incidents. Hargensen asserts that this is irrelevant, but Grayle threatens to countersue on Carrie’s behalf if Hargensen proceeds with his case. Hargensen leaves infuriated. Afterwards, Mr. Morton comes in, and Grayle jokes that he’s glad he’s up to date on his unemployment insurance. An appendix from The Shadow Exploded describes a poem that Carrie wrote in English class in which she describes feeling alone despite Jesus watching over her.

Monday afternoon, Sue goes to the Kelly Fruit Company, a grocery store and soda fountain, to wait for Tommy until he gets out of baseball practice. There, she encounters Chris and her boyfriend Billy Nolan, the former of whom calls Sue over. As Billy apathetically puts his arm over Chris’s shoulder, Chris talks about how she wants to crash prom and asks Sue why she didn’t walk out on detention with her. Sue tells her that they deserved the punishment, which angers Chris, who calls Sue hypocritical. As Sue leaves, she tearfully acknowledges to herself that Chris is right: she attended detention not out of remorse, but because she didn’t want to miss her Spring Ball. In The Shadow Exploded, Congress reprints a letter Chris wrote to an unnamed friend, in which she promises to bring a “big fucking surprise” to prom.