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THEY'RE ALL GONNA LAUGH AT YOU!
Margaret White's Famous Line

Margaret White is the main antagonist featured in the novel and all three film adaptions. She is the mother of Carrie White and a Christian fanatic.

She, along with Chris Hargensen and Billy Nolan, serves as the main antagonist.

Literary

In the novel, Margaret was working at the laundry in the town. She was a strong woman and a Christian fanatic. Her husband, Ralph White, died before their daughter Carrie was born. Her fanaticism is proven when Carrie goes outside and sees Estelle Horan, the daughter of her neighbor, sunbathing. Margaret believes this is a sin and tried to "cleanse" Carrie by stabbing her, but Carrie instinctively uses her telekinesis to protect herself. When Carrie developed her telekinesis further she saw Carrie as a witch and, like Abraham, was determined to sacrifice her to god. She mortally did wound Carrie, but Carrie, using her telekinesis to stop her heart killing her.

1976

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Margaret White was portrayed by Piper Laurie.

In Carrie (1976) Margaret was shown to be very religious and very creepy. Her clothes and her hair were very witch-like and she had a very religious background. Margaret was very evil and very abusive to her daughter, Carrie. She locks her in her closet and orders her to pray for forgiveness when she learns about the shower incident, because she said it was punishment for Eve's disobedience (offering Adam the fruit and creating the original sin). She also is very mad. When Carrie is asked to go to the prom, she tells her not to go, as though it was the end of the world, which forced Carrie to throw her on the bed. Margaret first discovers Carrie's powers, when she slams all the windows shut trapping her in and Carrie tells her, she is going to the prom. For the mere reason of having telekinesis she says she is a witch and witches have to die according to God. Margaret then tells Carrie after the Prom massacre at home, that she was raped by Ralph, gains her trust and then stabs Carrie in the back. Margaret then makes a crazy smile, as she follows Carrie downstairs ready to stab her again, as though she was in a sort of mission. Before she has the chance to do it, however, Carrie sends a knife pinning her hand into the wall. She then screams smilingly in pain and then Carrie crucifies Margaret, so that she won't recover from her attack and continue to try to kill her. While this happens, she always shows this smile. Margaret, after letting out creepy, painful smiling screams, dies. Her death causes Carrie to destroy the house with her and her mother in it dying on the way.

2002

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Margaret White in Carrie was portrayed by Patricia Clarkson.

This Margaret was much calmer than the original, but is still very abusive towards Carrie. When she gets the call, that Carrie had her period, she slaps Carrie at home and drags her into the closet, where she has to pray because of she is guilty of Eve's Disobedience (women are punished by God for Eve eating from the forbidden tree and then encouraging Adam to do so). Later, when Carrie announces that she has been asked to the prom, Margaret throws tea at her head in an attempt to dissuade her. It's then, when Carrie first shows her power by slamming a door in front of her. Margaret calls her a witch, but relents. While Carrie is putting on her make-up, Margaret tells her desperately not to go, but Carrie slides her mother across and out of the room and slams the door. Margaret is seen glaring behind the bushes, when she sees Carrie going with Tommy in a limo. Margaret is seen with her head down in the house while looking at a cross on the wall. It is implied, she has decided to kill her daughter to "free her of Satan". When Carrie comes home, not knowing what happened, Margaret attempts to drown her correspondingly. Carrie then, with her last strength, stops her heart, killing her. She survives the attempted murder, but only barely, thanks to Sue who enters the house, finds her and manages to revive her.

After the events of the prom, Carrie visits her grave for the first and last time and before she goes with Sue to Florida. Her memory about what happened will haunt her for the rest of her life.

2013

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Margaret White in Carrie was portrayed by Julianne Moore.

She locks Carrie in the closet and scrapes her own arms with her nails until she bleeds. She wanted to protect Carrie and not let her go out into the real world. When Carrie is talking to her mother about how the stuff she says isn't in the Bible, Margaret slams the bible in her face, causing her to fall. She then stalks her downstairs. When Carrie goes out to look for a dress and comes home late Margaret gets furious and says she worried about her and was wondering where she was. When Carrie tells Margaret, that she's been asked to the prom, she says no. Carrie then reveals her powers to Margaret picking her up and lifting house-hold objects into the air. She then says, she thought that Carrie was a cancer when she was being born, Carrie reacts in pain and says it's awful acting a little aggressive on Margaret on the way. She then throws Margaret softly on the ground, as Margaret mourns. She looks at Carrie, when she is cutting, sewing and making her prom dress, but quickly looks away when Carrie glances back at her. When Margaret worries and gets very upset, she begins to tempt Carrie to not go to the prom, to burn the dress with her and pray. After following Carrie downstairs and trying to tempt her not to go, Carrie grabs her mother with her TK. After Margaret says a few more words, Carrie throws her in the closet, locking the door. She then burns the lock, so Margaret can't escape and disturb the evening. Carrie then leaves to go to the prom. While Carrie is at prom Margaret slams her arm out of the crack. She has blood all over her arms from forcing it onto the door. She then bangs her head rapidly and eventually gets out. In a deleted scene, Margaret grabs a knife and most likely washes the blood of her hands. When Carrie gets home after destroying the prom and killing Chris and Billy, she walks upstairs and calls for Margaret. Margaret then passes by the hallway, without Carrie noticing. When Carrie hugs her Mom, she says to kneel down and they talk about how she was raped. After Margaret talks more to Carrie, she pulls out a knife smiling and stabs Carrie hardly on her shoulder wounding her severely. Carrie then telekinetically flies away from her, but she doesn't stop. She approaches her again and under the argument, that she must kill Satan in her attacks her again. She manages to slash Carrie's arm and then right as she is about to stab Carrie in the face, Carrie lifts her up. After Carrie lifts her up, Carrie says she's sorry while she summons telekinetically stabbing things. Margaret, fearing the outcome, shouts Carrie. Carrie then stabs Margaret with her TK with these house-hold objects crucifying her. Margaret then gasps air-less, while Carrie frees her from this position and later dies in Carrie's arms. Carrie then stays with her as the house gets crushed  and sinks into the ground, presumably killing Carrie, too.

Perhaps the biggest difference between this depiction of Margaret and the earlier versions is how much she genuinely loves Carrie. In neither of the previous films nor the book did Margaret ever say "I love you". Meanwhile, in the 2013 movie, during almost every scene, she expresses how much she loves Carrie. She holds Carrie's hand in the car on the way home; when she lets Carrie out of the closet, she braids her hair & says "I love you"; when she sees Carrie laying in bed, she tucks her in and says, "I won't let anyone hurt you, little girl, you're safe here with me." (Compare these latter 2 examples to the 1976 version, where Margaret coldly says "go to bed.") Even when 2013 Margaret is about to kill Carrie, she says, "I should've given you to God when you were born, but I was weak, and I loved you so much, and I said, 'God, let me keep my little girl'." Compare to the 1976 Margaret who was laughing and smiling as she tried to kill Carrie.

2013 Margaret doesn't want to abuse or hurt Carrie, but she feels like she has to, in order to protect Carrie from things that she believes would be far worse - her classmates' ridicule, from being violated by males (as Margaret herself was, when maritally raped), and especially from God's judgment. In fact, her abusiveness comes precisely from the fact that she does love her daughter so much and wants to do anything to protect her from harm. It breaks Margaret's own heart to feel like she has to treat her daughter this way; compare to the 1976 Margaret especially who seemed to take pleasure in abusing Carrie, even laughing and smiling as she did so.

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1976

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2013

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