Carrie Reading Response

Low self-esteem and self-harm has become a major issue in teen life and has caused many stories to end tragically. It was no different for Carrie. Carrie by Stephen King focuses on the telekinetic powers of Carrie, a girl living with a religious, abusive mother. She becomes really depressed and turns her powers into a weapon. Social issues such as bullying, religious discrimination, and abuse are the main reasons of depression for Carrie and many others.

Bullying was one of the main reason from the start of the story that showed signs of depression. Carrie was made fun of lack of knowledge about growing of age although that being her mom’s problem. When Carrie experiences her first period at school, King writes, “Then the laughter, disgusted, contemptuous, horrified, seemed to rise and bloom into something jagged and ugly, and the girls were bombarding her with tampons and sanitary napkins...They flew like snow and the chant became: ‘Plug it up, plug it up, plug it up, plug it-’” This shows Carrie being bullied because of inexperience. Carrie was being punished verbally and physically for her mother not telling her about her period. This quote proves that she has been a victim of harassment. Through all this, she was unable to keep her head up and fight through it, leading to depression and performing homicide. This doesn’t just happen in books because in reality it happens in everyday life for many people. Amanda Todd was a girl that made one mistake and was taunted for the rest of her life because of it. She gave up her life showing the terrible effects of bullying. Teens need to notice this and made aware that it does occur despite the negativity of it. It will hopefully teach them to be nicer to others.

In addition, religious discrimination has also been a large factor in Carrie’s depression. Her mom’s influence on her has made her very religious and value God. She believes everyone except her and her mom will go to hell. During prom nominations, Carrie thinks, “George and Frieda. No was Frieda Jason was a Jew.” This quote shows Carrie making fun of others like how people were making fun of her. Bringing other people down to increase your self-esteem is not an excuse especially someone’s physical feature and or religion. People are unable to control their religion because they usually grow up in their parents’ religion. Religion is a big case in the world, too. Many kids in Israel has been kidnapped and killed by others because they didn’t like that they were Arabs. Carrie is just talking to herself, but it can lead to drastic results like this. It may seem funny to the bully, but it is really offensive to the recipient. Carrie thinks of anyone unlike her as lower, which is how everyone treats her. So, she should think about how she feels when she is bullied because that is probably how Frieda will probably feel. Teens need to realize this to make them think before they discriminate on religion.

Furthermore, Carrie’s homicidal actions are partially caused by abuse. Her mom has been abusing her ever since she was little, mainly because of religion. Her mom would force her into a closet to pray for her sins. A part in the book that shows her mom abusing her is when King writes, “She [her mom] was clawing at her neck and cheeks, making red marks and scratches. She tore her dress.” This quotes proves the fact that her mom was abusive. This abuse led to Carrie despising her mother, resulting in Carrie using her telekinetic powers to stop her mom’s heart from working. Her mom’s abusive relationship with her led to her murder rampage because when she killed her mom after her mom stabbed her, it was certain she was taking everyone down with her. In our society, abusive relationships are unfortunately, very common and similar to this. They are controlled by someone in the relationship forcing the other person to do something. Carrie and her mom have the same relationship in which her mom forces her in the closet. In both cases, the person being abused had no way out of it and are too scared to speak up. Teens reading this book should learn to speak up and report it because abuse is not something to overlook.

As these examples has proven, Carrie became really depressed mainly for three reasons- bullying, religious discrimination, and abuse. Carrie is truly not a role model when it comes to dealing with these problems. None of them are fun and should be tolerated with. The interesting thing about the book is through all the terrible social issues, it is entertaining. However, the issues teach people how not to deal with them, in hopes of people doing the opposite- to speak up and to not do it. Everyone has problems and the end result is up to the way you deal with it, so the book should encourage readers to learn how to deal with problems such as bullying, religious discrimination, and abuse the way that will benefit them the most.