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Part 3: Wreckage

Summary: Part 3, Section 11

“Westover Mercy Hospital/Report of Decease”

The initial page of Section 11 is a replication of Carrie’s death certificate. It notes that she was dead upon arrival at the hospital and lists the time of death as approximately 2 a.m. Susan Snell is listed as the person who identified the deceased, and the certificate notes that the body was released to the State of Maine.

A newswire report from June 5, 1979, states that there are 409 dead and 49 still missing in Chamberlain. It refers to an investigation of Carrie White and the “so-called ‘TK’ phenomena” as well as rumors surrounding her autopsy. The governor announces that an investigative committee will study the tragedy.

A newspaper article from September 7, 1979, reports that many houses are now for sale in Chamberlain. The town mill is still in operation but has cut back to one shift due to lack of workers. Kelly Fruit Company was destroyed on prom night and will not reopen. There are now 440 people known dead, 67 of whom were Ewen High School seniors buried in three mass ceremonies. Thousands of people attended a memorial service for them all. Only 52 Ewen seniors attended the graduation ceremony at a neighboring high school and there were no parties afterward. The reporter concludes that the town looks as if it is waiting to die.

Principal Grayle tenders his resignation letter on June 9. An excerpt from Miss Desjardin’s June 11 resignation letter states that she would rather kill herself than continue teaching and expresses regret for neglecting to reach out to Carrie. Graffiti on the lot where the Whites’ home stood notes that Carrie is burning for her sins.

An article in a 1981 scientific journal notes that politicians seem inclined to dismiss TK as a fluke, but there is a 99% possibility of genetic recurrence. In her autobiography, Sue says she hopes the book sells well so that she can move someplace where nobody knows her. The governor’s committee concludes that there is no reason to believe a recurrence is possible. In 1988, a woman in Tennessee writes a letter to her sister. She writes about her blonde, blue-eyed daughter who is two years old and looks like their momma. She recently caught the girl laughing and playing with marbles that moved by themselves. It scared her, and she recalls their grammie who could make her rocker go when she wasn’t in it. She says she bets her daughter will be a “world-beeter” someday.

Analysis: Part 3, Section 11

This section of the novel carries heavy emotional weight as survivors reckon with the aftermath of Carrie’s rampage and judge her to be worthy of either hatred or pity. Sue must identify Carrie’s body for the coroner, and hundreds of parents learn that their children are dead. The aftermath of the destruction is documented in a variety of sources, most of them dispassionate government documents or news wire reports. The matter-of-fact tone of this section is in sharp contrast to the visceral descriptions of chaos and death that began in Section 8. Sue’s autobiography and Miss Desjardin’s resignation letter are much more telling, perhaps because they were both first-hand witnesses to the destruction and still feel conflicted about what they could have done to stop it. The graffiti on the lot of the Whites’ former home makes it clear that even in death, there are still some people who see Carrie as a scourge rather than as a victim.

The politicians who conclude that telekinesis (TK) is a fluke do so in order to keep their constituents from panicking. They were able to justify their conclusion because the recessive gene for TK occurs primarily in young women, a traditionally marginalized group who is not always taken seriously. None of the people who testified before the commission were able to explain how they knew what Carrie was thinking, and the interrogators were especially biased against Sue Snell, another young woman whom they could easily portray as hysterical. The scientists and other scholars who studied the incident understood the nuances of TK and the complexities of adolescent development, but the scales of justice in the earthly world are not calibrated to account for phenomena that cannot be explained to voters in plain language.

The letter from the woman in Tennessee makes it clear that the TK gene has reoccurred, and sets the stage for the possibility of another tragedy to come. The colloquial terms and misspellings throughout the letter hint that its writer and her daughter might also be part of a marginalized group, which is in stark contrast to the crisp language in the other archival documents and articles throughout the book. Before the letter writer even divulges the anecdote about the marbles, it is clear from her description of the girl’s blond hair and blue eyes, both recessive traits, that she possesses the TK gene. She is nearly the same age as Carrie was when her powers first surfaced, and exhibits traits passed down from the maternal line. King ends the book with the mother’s assertion that her daughter will be a real “world-beeter,” leaving the reader to contemplate what that chilling prophecy might entail.

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