Skip to main content

Carrie, and the effects of bullying on victims

‘Carrie’ is a horror book written by Stephen King, about a teenage girl named Carrie with telekinetic powers who gets bullied at school and ultimately snaps at her senior prom. The book was adapted multiple times into a movie. I’ve seen the one made in 2013, but haven’t gotten around to reading the book yet.

The movie gave a clear picture of the effects of bullying on victims we saw in class, except the telekinetic powers of course. It showed Carrie getting more and more disconnected with her mother for example, or how lonely she was. The telekinetic powers could’ve been a metaphor for psychotic symptoms in my opinion or the general decline in her mental health.

Even though Carrie’s revenge was extreme, I think many victims relate to wanting revenge on their bullies. I’ve found a research paper about this titled “Exploring revenge as a mediator between bullying and victimisation in gifted and talented students”.

-Charlotte Siffert

Link to website for the book: https://stephenking.com/works/novel/carrie.html

Link to research paper: https://cipp.ug.edu.pl/Exploring-revenge-as-a-mediator-between-bullying-and-victimisation-in-gifted-and,76539,0,2.html

Sarıçam, H., & Çetinkaya, Ç. (2017). Exploring revenge as a mediator between bullying and victimisation in gifted and talented students. Current Issues in Personality Psychology, 6(2), 102–111. https://doi.org/10.5114/cipp.2018.72267

Stephen King | Carrie. (z.d.). https://stephenking.com/works/novel/carrie.html



Labels:

Comments

  1. Adrià BorràsMay 30, 2025 at 10:32 AM

    Hi! I'm glad someone mentioned Carrie because I'm a big fan of the 1976 movie. As you said the story is uncomfortable and her actions can't be justified, but they are the consequences of a damaged brain caused for all the pain she endured. I'd like to describe that "powers" as rage. I see them as a representation of that sadness, internal violence and repression that someone introvert creates when they feel traped and violated. And at the end that powers become another exterioritzacion of violence and cruelty, the same that her agressors performed. It's like a circle of violence: Carrie becomes a monster because she was abused by monsters. Violence representated as a disease that contaminates inocent people.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

New Definition of Bullying

 Hi everyone! The World Anti-Bullying Forum, together with UNESCO, created a Working group for establishing a new definition of school bullying. Its new definition keeps the idea that bullying requires unwanted repetitive aggressiveness and imbalance of power, and adds the idea that this power imbalance is supported by societal and institutional norms. The emphasis is now in the idea that bullying is not an affair among students but a social process. The new definition is this one: School bullying is a damaging social process that is characterized by an imbalance of power driven by social (societal) and institutional norms. It is often repeated and manifests as unwanted interpersonal behaviour among students or school personnel that causes physical, social, and emotional harm to the targeted individuals or groups, and the wider school community. You can find the document where it is explained  here . Fes
Post a Comment
Read more

Salutogenic approach and a personal opinion

  As I briefly mentioned in my previous post, on the website called PDA Bullying , among various resources, there is a section dedicated to explain the Salutogenic approach . After doing some research, it becomes clear that this approach gets its name because its main goal is to promote health and well-being . The platform aims to address bullying from this perspective, adopting a strength-based approach that focuses on individuals' potential and the creation of a cooperative community working toward a shared goal . It slightly reminds me of the No Blame Approach we studied in class, as it also refers to a method based on compassion and a solution-focused outlook , rather than assigning blame. Their aim is not simply to act against bullying, but rather to overcome it , moving beyond a simplistic understanding of bullying as just a dynamic between two individuals. Instead, they view it as a broader social process . For this reason, the protocol designed and implemented by...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Simpsons: Bull-E

  Bull-E - The Simpsons (Season 26, Episode 21) The Simpsons has reflected bullying as a complex issue through their episodes, whether through Bart’s pranks, Nelson’s struggles, or Springfield’s collective response, the show highlights the importance of addressing bullying thoughtfully and empathetically.  Many schools and communities have anti-bullying policies, but the debates arise about how to enforce them without oppressing free expression or over-penalizing minor infractions. The episode of The Simpsons reflects these concerns by showing the challenges of finding a balance. It highlights how good intentions, like preventing bullying (passing an Anti-Bullying law), can sometimes go way too far, leading to unintended consequences. Also, it brings up the difficulty of bullying’s definition, what feels like bullying to one person might seem harmless to another, that is Homer’s storyline, which reminds us that our words and actions, even if unintended, can impact on others d...
Post a Comment
Read more