Zlostavljanje u romanima Carrie Stephena Kinga i Različita Veronice Roth

Carrie (1974) is Stephen King’s first published novel and belongs to the horror fiction genre. It depicts a sixteen-year-old girl Carrie White who was physically and verbally abused by her peers as well as her mother, which culminated at her prom when her abusers pour pig’s blood all over her, making her furious. Carrie’s abuse instigates her telekinetic powers, and her final humiliation at the prom night prompts her to destroy the entire town of Chamberlain. Similarly, Veronica Roth’s debut novel Divergent, which belongs to the genres of science fiction and young adult fiction, explores the theme of physical and verbal abuse. The main character Beatrice Tris Prior experiences bullying while competing for a spot in the initiation process in order to become a member of the Dauntless faction, one of the five factions situated in the dystopian version of Chicago that nurture a certain personality trait. This paper aims to suggest that although Carrie and Tris suffered the same types of abuse, they had different outcomes because Tris had more support from the people around her and, most importantly, she managed to establish her identity, which Carrie failed to do. Namely, Tris succeeded in overcoming her traumas with the help of her friends, whereas Carrie was not properly protected, not even by her own mother who further harassed her. As a result, Tris became a self-confident, independent and ambitious young woman, while Carrie went mad and, after she had taken revenge on her abusers, bled to death from being stabbed by her mother