This is a guest post by seals who will be heading our 'Lost Book Club' regular feature.
Carrie tells the story of Carrie White, the girl who essentially had the life squeezed out of her by the tormenting and mocking of her peers and the bullying and browbeating of her religious zealot mother. The story is told in three modes, much like LOST itself: the current story (usually from Carrie's point of view), flash-backs (told through articles in newspapers and investigators' reports), and flash-forwards (interviews with survivors).
Carrie possesses the gift of telekinesis, the ability to control objects with her mind, though she doesn't realize that she can until she is almost 17 and she entered puberty. Before then, odd things had happened, such as a hailstorm in August localized over her house, when she felt extreme anxiety and stress, but she never put her emotions and those occurrences together. After that fateful day in the showers after PE class, though, Carrie realized that she had a power that others did not.
Carrie is elected Prom Queen and immediately doused with pigs blood as she accepts her crown. The one time she felt accepted and normal mutated into her worst moment and humiliation. Those responsible--as well as those who weren't--reaped the consequences. Carrie harnessed all her telekinesis power and went on a killing spree, getting retribution for a lifetime of misery at the hands of others.
Comparisons to Lost
Stephen King's novel Carrie has made a couple appearances on LOST. The most obvious, of course, is in the premiere of season three, when Juliet hosts the Others' Book Club and chose Carrie as the novel that month.
In Not In Portland, Carrie is also seen on Rachel's night stand.
There are also some obvious (and not-so-obvious) character connections between Carrie and LOST.
Walt
The most apparent connection between Carrie and a LOST character is Walt. While under stress or when frustrated, Walt can manifest objects. What happens when Walt needs help with his homework and his mom and Brian aren't paying attention? The bird Walt's been studying crashes into the window of their home. What happens when Michael burns the comic book with a polar bear in it that Walt was reading? Walt runs away and is chased by a polar bear. His dad needs to rescue him. The Missing Pieces: Room 23 mobisode shows a slew of dead birds outside Room 23's window. While the mobisode never explicitly states that Walt is inside the room, that's the clear implication.
It's also clear that, much like Carrie at the beginning of the book, Walt can't control his telekinesis yet.
Ben
Ben also has some connections to Carrie. He is shown reading it in preparation for the Book Club discussion in One Of Us and states that "it's depressing." Another similarity to Carrie is that both Ben's mom and Carrie's mother gave birth at seven months, neither at the hospital or with a doctor present. Ben's demeaning treatment from his dad echos the treatment Carrie receives from her mother. And Ben kills his dad much like Carrie kills her mom. Plus, the Purge in Otherville is remniscent of Carrie's attack at the Prom.
Juliet
As Juliet declares that Carrie is her favorite book, it stands to reason that she felt some emotional resonance with it. This logic is bolstered by Damon and Carlton saying that Juliet and Carrie are similar on the on the Season 3, Disc 7 Lost Book Club bonus feature.
Not In Portland introduces a meek and docile Juliet, one who is bullied by her ex-husband, Edmund, and has no apparent self-confidence. When she meets Richard Alpert, she wishes for a bus to hit her ex-husband so she could be free to accept the job Alpert offered. Soon after, Edmund is struck by a bus and dies, freeing Juliet to accept the job; it is ambiguous whether Alpert arranged it or if Juliet willed it to happen.
Once on the island, Juliet undergoes a dramatic change. Instead of meek, Juliet is decisive and ruthless, even killing Pickett in order to get off the island. Lastly, though not a book correlation, Juliet's appearance as she faced down the Smoke Monster evoked Carrie's after the pigs blood is spilled on her in the 1977 movie.
Fun Facts
- Emilie de Ravin (Claire) played main Carrie antagonist Chris Hargensen in the 2002 TV Movie.
- There is a mention of Cerebrus when the guys are driving to get the pigs blood.
- The prinicpal of Carrie's school is named Henry Grayle. This is very similar to Henry Gale, the man whose identity Ben stole (both Stephen King's books and LOST have many of Wizard of Oz references).
Where to read
- Amazon.com has several prints of the book available.
- Powells.com also has books available.
- Carrie Online is probably the most difficult way to read it, since there are no chapter breaks or headings, and given the non-linear telling of the narrative this makes is hard to track what time you are reading.
Did you love (or hate) Carrie? Have you seen parallels to the show that weren't covered above? Let us know what you think.
