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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Where does Stevie currently live?

2. What happened the last time Begbie started a fight?

3. Where does Fiona go at the end of Grieving and Mourning in Port Sunshine?

4. In It Goes Without Saying, who thinks the group should leave the flat?

5. Speaking to Dianne's parent in this chapter, Renton says he works for what?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Renton play his interviewer in Speedy Recruitment?

2. How does Sick Boy dictate activities in The Skag Boys?

3. How does Tommy fall into the heroin lifestyle in Cock Problems?

4. What sadistic joke does Johnny Swan play in The Skag Boys?

5. What do all of the Junk Dilemmas have in common?

6. Describe the activities of the gang in Grieving and Mourning in Port Sunshine.

7. What does Renton slowly realize has happened at the beginning of It Goes Without Saying?

8. Describe the incident in The Glass.

9. What does Renton realize about Begbie in The Glass?

10. What does Renton discover the morning after having sex with Dianne?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The narration of Trainspotting alternates between first and third person. Write an essay about these transitions and the difference between the two types of narrative. How does Welsh use different verbiage for each type of perspective? Discuss how each type of point-of-view reflects a different tone and intent? How do the first-person sections vary from one another depending on who is speaking?

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay on the subject of nonparticipation in modern life. To what extent are all of the characters in Trainspotting choosing not to participate in life? What are they distinctly trying to avoid? What pain and disappointment are they wary of? How have the major characters in the novel coped to avoid maintaining ties with each other and family and to avoid having jobs?

Essay Topic 3

Trainspotting takes place in a specific time and place: Edinburgh in the mid- to late-eighties. This is a period marked by civil strife between right and left in the era of IRA and Thatcher. Write an essay about three ways in which the political pervades the narrative:

Part 1) Discuss the rivalry between the Hibs and the Hearts. How do these two football clubs represent two ideologies in this era? Which club do the mates of Trainspotting support, and what does this say about their understanding of the United Kingdom?

Part 2) What happens to Spud and his Uncle Dode when they cross paths with skinheads in the novel? Discuss what challenges Dode has faced in Leith and why. How are these challenges typified in this interaction with the skinheads?

Part 3) Discuss Renton's reaction to his brother Billy's death. How does he connect the death to racism and privilege in a stratified United Kingdom? What does Renton feel about Thatcher, Union, and his Glasgow relatives?

(see the answer keys)

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