Character Analysis
(Avoiding Spoilers)
Living… in 1952 New Jersey, in a beautiful, old mansion. She lives close enough to New York for day trips into the city, which she takes frequently.
Profession… housewife, and an unhappy one. Carol has always felt stifled by her life in the suburbs, like she hasn’t had the opportunity to be her true self. She loves her daughter Rindy very much, but there are other things in her life that she finds fulfilling besides her household and she’d like to experience more of them.
Interests… smoking, driving, and records. Carol also has a penchant for the finer things in life, like manicured nails and fur coats.
Relationship Status… married, but in the process of divorce. Carol has had enough of being held back by her husband, and now she’s taking action to be who she’s meant to be and exploring her homosexuality. She had an affair with her best friend Abby, but now they’re just friends. Recently, Carol met an intriguing young shop girl named Therese, and she’s taken a strong interest in her…
Challenge… being true to herself while also being a mother. Carol is finally breaking free of her stifling marriage, but becoming a self-actualized woman in the 1950s is not easy. Also, the fact that Carol is a lesbian is not making the divorce proceedings any easier.
Personality… glamorous, charismatic, and soulful.Carol is driven to fight to make her life better, whether that means going after a divorce or pursuing the woman she loves.
Get to Know her in...
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In 1950s New York, a department-store clerk who dreams of a better life falls for an older, married woman.
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A great American writer…Highsmith's writing is wicked…it puts a spell on you." —Entertainment Weekly Patricia Highsmith's story of romantic obsession may be one of the most important, but still largely unrecognized, novels of the twentieth century. First published in 1952 and touted as "the novel of a love that society forbids," the book soon became a cult classic. Based on a true story plucked from Highsmith's own life, Carol tells the riveting drama of Therese Belivet, a stage designer trapped in a department-store day job, whose routine is forever shattered by a gorgeous epiphany—the appearance of Carol Aird, a customer who comes in to buy her daughter a Christmas toy. Therese begins to gravitate toward the alluring suburban housewife, who is trapped in a marriage as stultifying as Therese's job. They fall in love and set out across the United States, ensnared by society's confines and the imminent disapproval of others, yet propelled by their infatuation. Carol is a brilliantly written story that may surprise Highsmith fans and will delight those discovering her work. Now a major motion picture
