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Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes.

Animals

Animals and animal-related terminology are used throughout the novel to degrade the characters in various ways and to describe acts of chaos. Viewing Carrie as less than human allows Carrie’s peers to treat her like an animal, and they constantly refer to her, the perennial scapegoat, in animal terms. Among the lighter critiques are the descriptions of Carrie’s “frog-like” croaks in the locker room, and Ruth Gogan’s observation that she hops off the stage like a frog at prom. Ruth also observes the power lines that writhe like snakes, and Estelle Horan compares Margaret to a bull alligator. Among the harshest critiques are Chris and Billy’s view that Carrie is a pig, the dirtiest and most detestable of creatures. When they humiliate Carrie in front of her peers by recreating a large-scale version of the locker room incident, Chris and Billy choose pig’s blood even though they are the only two who will understand the symbolism of that choice.

Beauty

Beauty is used in the novel as a way to hold power over others, denoting who is valuable and who is not. Beauty is the ultimate metric by which the students at Ewen High judge each other’s worth, and, for the most part, they find Carrie sorely lacking in that department. Her lack of beauty cements her low social status, just as her sudden grasp of it at prom makes her status skyrocket, at least to the level of a conventionally attractive girl. Sue thinks that being beautiful for a night has the potential to shape the rest of Carrie’s life because Sue judges and is conscious of her own outer beauty. Sue doesn’t acknowledge, however, that her own beauty brings her little happiness. Tommy notices Carrie’s quiet beauty before he notices her dignity. He dies before he can tell Carrie that he is in love with her, but on prom night, he tells her often how beautiful she is, further illustrating the importance of beauty to him and his peers.

Colors

The use of different colors reveals information about the various characters and events in the book. Carrie White is the reason for the Black Prom, which is how the media coverage refers to the events of May 27th and 28th, 1979. Carrie’s mother won’t allow her to wear red because of the evil it represents, but Carrie sews a prom dress as red as the blood that gave her the power to rain destruction down on everyone. Red is the most prominent color in the novel, and it is the symbol of Carrie’s maturation and the bloodshed her powers bring. The book details nothing of Ronda Simard beyond her green skirt, but the sight of it in flames sends Carrie gleefully out into the streets. Carrie begins and ends her life covered in red. Her adulthood commences in red as well, and she taints Miss Jardin’s white shorts with a red handprint that all will see even after Carrie has cleaned up herself. All the while, a cuckoo clock from the Black Forest ticks away her time on earth, and Carrie’s life ends as a flickering flame of red, likely her soul, goes down a black tunnel.

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