pray for forgiveness (out of no fault of her own), usually leaving her there for several hours or even days as a punishment. Margaret believes that anything or everything can be a sin and harbors extremely restrictive views on sexuality. She feels that only "loose women" develop breasts, or "dirty pillows" as she calls them; she feels that she herself developed breasts due to the way Carrie was conceived. When Carrie has her first menstrual cycle at the age of 16, Margaret refers to it as the 'Curse of Blood' and claims that it was brought on by some sort of sexual sin on Carrie's part. After berating Carrie, Margaret locks her in the "prayer closet" until it is time for bed. When Carrie is asked to the prom by Tommy Ross, Margaret initially forbids it, but Carrie insists on this last opportunity to fit in and reinforces her demand with her telekinetic power. Once Carrie makes her own dress, Margaret insists that they burn it and pray for forgiveness, disapproving of the fact that it shows cleavage. Carrie then uses her powers to push her mother out of the room. While waiting for Carrie to come home from the prom, Margaret decides to “kill the sin”. She goes so far as to hide a butcher knife beneath the folds of her dress. Once Carrie arrives home, having telekinetically destroyed the high school and everything else in the town after falling victim to a cruel prank, both are surprised to find out that they each intend to kill the other. Margaret stabs Carrie in her shoulder. Carrie kills her mother by telekinetically slowing down her heart to a stop; Margaret recites the Lord's Prayer as she dies. Adaptations 1976 film In the original film adaptation by Brian De Palma, Margaret is portrayed by Piper Laurie. She is portrayed as being more attractive than her character in the novel. She is not overweight, like in the novel, and has wavy auburn hair and fair skin and talks with a slightly southern accent. Margaret claims that Ralph was carried away by the Devil, but Carrie says that he actually left her for another woman. As in the novel, Margaret reveals that she had sex with Ralph twice: once prior to marriage (after which she wanted to kill herself), and once more after they were married, when he was drunk and forced himself