Carrie Dollanganger (2024)

Flowers in the Attic[]

Carrie is the younger sister of Cathy and Chris and the twin of Cory. She and her siblings resided in Gladstone, Pennsylvania until she was 5 years old when her father was killed in a car accident.

Carrie and her family then moved to Charlottesville, Virginia to live with their grandparents, while Corrine, her mother regains her father's love. Carrie, along with Chris, Cathy and Cory are locked in the attic of Foxworth Hall, so their grandfather doesn't learn of their existence.

Carrie and Cory stop growing properly after the years of locked in the attic - due to the lack of necessary sunshine and fresh air. Even though Carrie was extroverted prior to her experiences in the attic, she is meek and mousy afterward.

Carrie suffers and becomes very ill when she and her siblings are poisoned by arsenic-laced doughnuts. The poisoning stunts her growth and she never really becomes well. Carrie, along with Chris and Cathy escape the attic one night.

Petals on the Wind[]

Carrie becomes very ill on the bus ride south. Carrie, along with Cathy, and Chris planned on fleeing to Florida. Cathy panics, as she realizes that Carrie needs to go to the hospital, but fears that they would be split up if they did so. However, a woman named Henrietta Beech befriends the children and takes them to her boss, Dr. Paul Sheffield. There, he takes care of and provides medical attention to Carrie, Cathy, and Chris for the arsenic in their bodies.

Carrie flourishes under the care of Paul and they begin to become a family again. She wants to put the experience of the attic behind her and doesn't crave revenge as Cathy does. Carrie goes to school, but is mocked and teased for her small body.

Cathy eventually marries a man named Julian Marquet, and after a stormy marriage, becomes a widow, and then gives birth to a son. On his deathbed, Julian claims to have molested Carrie. Carrie is thrilled at the birth of her nephew. Cathy then moves to Charlottesville, Virginia to take revenge on her mother and grandmother. Carrie moves with her, but doesn't share her sister's desire for revenge.

While living in Virginia, Carrie begins a relationship with a young man named Alex. Cathy strongly encourages the relationship, and Alex and Carrie are very happy together and even planning on being married until Alex reveals that he wants to becomes a minister. Carrie, still haunted by her fanatically religious grandmother who called her and her siblings the "Devil's Spawn," is worried about this.

Carrie suddenly becomes very ill, and Cathy is shocked. It's revealed that Carrie ate a doughnut poisoned with arsenic intentionally. Cathy assumes that Carrie was worried about her relationship with Alex, but Carrie reveals in a note that she saw their mother, Corrine on the street, and talked with her, begging her to speak with her, that they could have a secret relationship that no one would ever know about, and Corrine responded with disgust.

Carrie believes that she must really be the Devil's spawn for Corrine to react that way. She later dies, and this devastates and further enrages Cathy, fueling her desire even more for revenge against her mother.

Personality[]

Carrie was a talkative, opinionated child. According to Cathy, Carrie was speaking at nine months and was very sure of her likes and dislikes and that there was no middle ground for her. The traumas she suffered in Foxworth Hall dampened her spirits, though she still remained very vocal.

Cory's death, the traumas she and her siblings suffered, and the bullying she endured because of her small size left Carrie psychologically scarred for the rest of her life, though she managed to hide much of it from her family until the end of her life.

Because she had come to Foxworth Hall at such a young age, her grandmother's mental abuse made a deeper impact on Carrie than it did Chris and Cathy, who had more memories of their happy home life before their father died.

Her desperation to be loved in spite of her small size left Carrie vulnerable to her brother-in-law, Julian Marquet's abuse and she tells Cathy that Julian never made her feel ashamed of her smallness and that she loved him.

Carrie falls into a deep depression when her fiancee, Alex, tells her that he wants to become a minister and Carrie's fear of religious people that stemmed from her grandmother's abuse returns. She also fears that Alex will hate her when he finds out about her relationship with Julian. The final straw is when Corrine rejects her to her face, enforcing Carrie's belief that she was evil and unworthy of love, leading to her suicide.

Carrie was obsessed with her size since she was constantly bullied and had trouble making friends or attracting boys too because of it. Cathy, Chris, and Paul Sheffield all tried to convince her that it didn't matter, but Carrie would pray every night to be made taller, convinced that it was the source of all her problems.

On her deathbed, she tells Cathy that she could feel herself growing and that in heaven, she'd be as tall as she'd always wanted to be.

Relationships[]

Olivia Winfield Like her brother, Cory, Carrie spent most of her time in Foxworth Hall afraid of their grandmother after Olivia harms Carrie for being too loud. Olivia's assertions that Carrie and her siblings are 'Devil's Spawn' have a more lasting impact on Carrie mentally since she was a young child when they were brought to Foxworth Hall and it would haunt her the rest of her life.

Christopher Foxworth, Sr. Little is shown of Carrie's relationship with her father, as she was only four when he died. However, Carrie remembers that her father loved trees and mowing the grass and tells Cory that God took those to heaven for him, which was why they couldn't go outside. Later in life, however, her memories of her father fade and she admits in her suicide note that she could only remember her father when she had a picture of him.

Corrine Foxworth Carrie loved her mother and would long for her for the rest of her life, even though she'd overheard Chris and Cathy's conversation about the arsenic and that their mother had tried to kill him. Even though she seemed to accept that Corrine couldn't be a part of their lives, she still missed her. It was Corrine's cruel rejection of Carrie that sent Carrie spiraling into the depression that ends in her suicide. Though her memories of Corrine fade (she tells Chris and Cathy that Corrine seemed like a dream that never was), Carrie remembers her mother's pearl necklace with the butterfly clasp even as an adult.

Chistopher Dollanganger Jr. Carrie and Chris were very close. Carrie admits that she sometimes forgets that Chris is her older brother and not her real father. When Carrie becomes old enough to date, Chris tries to set her up on dates with his friends, but Carrie resents it, sensing that the boys aren't interested in her.

Catherine Dollanganger Carrie was close to Cathy and viewed her as a mother, though Cathy admits that Carrie's constant chatter got on her nerves. She went to Cathy for advice and often, Cathy was the only person who could get Carrie to cooperate with something she didn't want to do. Carrie admitted to sometimes resenting Cathy because she could get any man she wanted, while Carrie couldn't. Carrie is overjoyed when Cathy asks her to live with her and her young son, Jory. When Carrie commits suicide, she asks Cathy and Chris to not be sad or miss her and tells them that she often forgets that they aren't her real parents.

Cathy is devastated when Carrie admits that Julian molested her but tries to assure her sister that it wasn't her fault and accepts part of the blame for not warning Carrie about Julian and his sexual appetite and that it wasn't something that Carrie should be ashamed of, though Carrie doesn't believe her.

Cory Dollanganger Cory was Carrie's twin and the two had an unbreakable bond. Carrie was the first one to sense that Cory was becoming seriously ill from the arsenic poisoning.

Cory's death shattered Carrie and she never fully recovered from losing him. She tells Cathy and Chris in her suicide note that nothing ever felt right after Cory died and that she would have died years ago if Chris, Cathy, Paul Sheffield, and Henrietta Beech hadn't loved her so much. As she dies, she tells Cathy that Cory is waiting for her and she can hear him calling her name.

Paul Sheffield Carrie loved Paul as a father and he returned the feeling. He showered her with gifts and gave her the loving home that she and her siblings had been denied. Carrie was the one who decided that she, Chris, and Cathy would stay with Paul.

Paul initially put Carrie in an exclusive all-girls private boarding school but the school and its student body proved and ill-fit for Carrie and after a horrifying incident where Carrie was left on the roof in an initiation hazing, Paul removed her from the school and enrolled her in public school so she could come home every day.

As Carrie became more depressed about her small size, Paul tried to find ways to give her the height she wanted, but the only ways available would cause Carrie a lot of pain and would probably never give her what she wanted.

When Carrie graduated from high school, Paul gave her a job as his secretary, which made her very happy. Paul grieved for Carrie after her suicide.

Julian Marquet Most of Julian's interactions with Carrie were offscreen in Petals on the Wind, but he seemed to be an affectionate brother-in-law. It was not until later that Carrie admitted that Julian had molested her. Carrie never says what exactly Julian did to her, just that it wasn't the kind of love that caused a pregnancy.

Alex Alex was Carrie's only boyfriend and the first person outside of her family to love her in spite of her size. Carrie loved Alex and dreamed of a life with him until Alex reveals that he wants to be a minister. Carrie, who would always associate religious people with her cruel grandmother, panicked and ended the engagement. The revelation would send Carrie into a downward spiral and end with her suicide.