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Part 2: Prom Night

Summary: Part 2, Section 7

“She puts the dress on for the first time on the morning of May 27, in her room.”

On the morning of prom, Carrie tries on her dress and a revealing new push-up bra, which makes her feel both excited and ashamed. Her mother walks in and says that she knew the dress would be red, and that everyone will be looking at Carrie’s “dirtypillows.” Carrie points out that every woman has breasts, and her mother says they should burn the dress in the incinerator. When Carrie quietly refuses, Margaret rakes her nails across her own cheek. Carrie tells her mother that this won’t change anything, and Margaret screams and punches herself in the face, raving about Jezebel and the dogs licking up her blood. Carrie flexes the bedroom door open, pushes her mother out, and tells her that she loves her and is sorry.

Later that evening, Carrie waits for Tommy, who will be arriving at 7:30 p.m. Her mother has locked herself in the chapel, and Carrie thinks that maybe this is all a joke and it would be safer just to stay home. She ponders the dreariness of living with her mother after high school ends and idly lifts household objects with her mind. The cuckoo pops out of the clock to announce the time, 7:30 p.m. At 7:33 p.m., Carrie begins to imagine how she would destroy her house, and then Tommy arrives. She asks him if he likes her, and he tells her she is beautiful.

Chris and Billy are in a room above The Cavalier, a tavern outside city limits, where Chris ponders their fiery relationship. She thinks that if she had not finally allowed Billy to sleep with her on Monday that he would have forced her. He is the first lover she has not been able to treat like a marionette. At 7:45 p.m., Chris wonders aloud if this is a bad idea. Billy tells her it is a good idea, and Chris is excited.

In the school parking lot, Tommy opens the car door for Carrie and tells her not to be nervous. He says that she reminds him of Galatea, a character in Greek mythology whom no one recognizes when she turns into a beautiful woman. In the lobby they see George Dawson, Frieda Jason, Tina Blake, and Norma Watson. George lurches toward Tommy with his fists up and Carrie is terrified until she realizes they are just horsing around. Frieda asks Carrie where she got her dress and is surprised to learn that Carrie sewed it. They continue talking as they walk into the gym with George and Tommy.

When they arrive at school, Billy tells Chris he will let her be the one to pull the string. On Thursday night, he had gone alone to position the buckets above the chalk outlines on the stage where the King and Queen will stand. That night, he had thought to himself that it would be alright if Chris were standing in that spot.

Norma Watson leads Carrie and Tommy to their table and talks in exaggerated tones about how different Carrie looks. When she asks Carrie her secret, Carrie retorts that she is the secret lover of Don McLean, a popular musician at the time. When Tommy smothers a laugh and Norma’s smile slips, Carrie thinks this is what it’s like when the joke is on someone else, and she likes it.

Meanwhile, Margaret walks slowly through the quiet house and thinks about her grandmother, who also had the “Devil’s Power.” Shortly after her grandmother’s funeral, Margaret remembers seeing Carrie in her crib, laughing as her bottle dangled in thin air. She thinks that Ralph stopped her from killing Carrie then. She gets the butcher knife from the kitchen and begins to sharpen it. The cuckoo jumps out to announce that it is 8:30 p.m.

At the dance, Carrie and Tommy admire the décor and the thrones for King and Queen. Carrie says that the thrones are beautiful, and again Tommy tells her that she is beautiful. At 9 p.m., Tommy goes to get them some punch, and Carrie sees Miss Desjardin. Carrie stares at Miss Desjardin silently, remembering how she looked the last time her teacher saw her, then tells Miss Desjardin that she looks pretty. Miss Desjardin tells Carrie that she looks beautiful, and that what happened in the past is forgotten. Carrie replies that she cannot forget, but that it’s over with. When Tommy returns, she tells him she thinks Miss Desjardin was trying to apologize.

At 9:15 p.m., Sue Snell is at home alone listening to records. Sue’s period is one week late. She is concerned. At almost 9:30 p.m., Chris and Billy arrive at the school parking lot. Billy tells Chris when the time comes to pull the rope hard and run as soon as the buckets drop because their actions constitute criminal assault.

Analysis: Part 2, Section 7

When Carrie refutes her mother about the filthiness of a woman’s breasts, it is clear that Carrie has not only gained confidence in her own body, but she has also gained the insight to know that her mother is wrong and the courage to calmly stand up to her. Unlike three-year-old Carrie in Section 1 who rushes to her mother’s side when she begins to scourge herself, this new, grown-up Carrie does not fall into old patterns. She still loves her mother and does not wish to harm her, but she will not let her get in the way of her desire to grow up and be a woman. Part of that journey includes going to the dance even though her mother believes that it will be the first step toward unredeemable sin. At this point, Carrie is ready to risk charting her own course. She begins that course when she allows herself to be vulnerable with Tommy, asking him not if he likes her dress, but if he likes her, and it is clear now that he does.

The dynamics in her relationship with Billy are not so clear to Chris, who with her good looks and privilege is used to being able to hold sway over her romantic interests. She also waffles about her decision to go through with her plan at the prom, but when Billy offers to let her pull the string, it looks for a moment is if he is her marionette after all. Chris is still unaware that Billy’s violent inclinations toward her go beyond sexual violence, but he is well aware of the risk that they are both taking if they follow through with the act of violence that they have planned. He gives Chris just enough figurative rope to tangle herself up in, and because she is pulling the strings, she is under the false impression that she is in control of the situation and of herself.

At the dance, Tommy and Carrie look the part of a real couple, and when Carrie realizes this it boosts her confidence and allows her to relax and enjoy herself. Tommy’s comfort with his friend George and the fact that Frieda has clearly never met Carrie before also provides Carrie with a rare sense of ease. Carrie’s newfound confidence allows her to take Norma Watson down a peg, and the others are as pleased as she is with this beautiful woman who, like Galatea, has been hiding in plain sight all along. Her encounter with Miss Desjardin further illustrates Carrie’s entry into the world. Their exchange is more woman-to-woman then teacher-to-student, and Carrie’s maturity allows her to acknowledge Miss Desjardin’s apology and examine her thoughts about the incident without wallowing in her emotions.

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