It was reliably reported by several persons that a rain of stones fell from a clear blue sky on Carlin Street in the town of Chamberlain on August 17th.
This statement sets the scene for what is to come. The opening lines of the book tell us that something rather strange is going on in Chamberlain and that nobody can explain it. The sources are multiple, and reliable, so this is not just rumor spread by someone always making up stories about the seemingly unexplained. This is genuinely spooky and apparently unexplainable activity in the town. It paves the way for the even more supernaturally disturbing events that are to take place as the narrative unfolds.
Carrie stood among stolidly, a frog among swans. She was a chunky girl with pimples on her neck and back and buttocks, her wet hair completely without color.
It's not hard to understand, based on this description of Carrie's appearance, why she might feel anger and resentment towards the other girls in Chamberlain; after all, even if they had not bullied her, she would have had reason to feel a little jealous of their prettiness and their outward appearance. It also sounds as though Carrie is going through adolescence and puberty with every physical side-effect known to young woman-kind.
From her appearance we can also tell that she is a girl who is more likely to get bullied at school than not, because bullies like to latch onto something that can be seen as a weakness, and make the most of it. Carrie's unfortunate appearance is just the thing that they are looking for to use against her.
It's also interesting to note that from the part of the description of Carrie that compares her with other girls,Chamberlain High School must have an unusual proportion of pretty female students, if the one who is less than picture perfect stands out in such an extreme kind of way.
Imagine Chris Hargensen all bloody and screaming for mercy . With rats crawling all over her face. Good. Good. That would be good. Crush in her head with a rock, with a boulder. Crush in all their heads. Good. Good.
It's not entirely unreasonable for Carrie to want some kind of revenge over the person who has orchestrated her public humiliation. It would almost be unnatural to not want her to be punished, or to be able to give her a taste of her own medicine. What Carrie is subjected to is traumatic and nobody seems to be on her side, or stick up for her against the bullies.
The problem with her revenge fantasies is that they are so very gory and evil. Carrie is making herself feel better by imagining Chris Hargenson almost dead, and she would like to be the person that makes this death happen. Chris has also caused this to a great degree, in that her actions have sent an already mentally unbalanced girl over the edge of sanity.
