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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. What does Renton hear as he wakes up in It Goes Without Saying?

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

3. At the end of The Glass, Renton reflects that he spent much of his childhood doing what?

4. In The Glass, Renton expresses disgust at what group?

5. How is Spud related to Dode?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Begbie respond to the groups when they don't want to rob a tourist?

2. How does Renton almost lose his opium suppositories in The First Day of the Edinburgh Festival?

3. What strange occurrence happens at the wake in Growing Up in Public?

4. How do Begbie and Renton pass the time on the train in Inner Shitty?

5. How do Renton and Sick Boy pick up girls in In Overdrive?

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

7. Why does Stevie have a wonderful New Years despite getting punched?

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

9. Why is Tommy worried about his girlfriend in Scotland Takes Drugs in Psychic Defense?

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

Trainspotting is a novel that exists resolutely in the nitty-gritty of working-class squalor. As such, Welsh regularly employs filthy and scatological imagery. Write an essay about three such instances. What is the nature of the filth portrayed? How does it relate to the narrative and themes of the novel? Is it presented straight or with humor, and do you think it is necessary or effective?

Part 1) The First Day of the Edinburgh Festival

Part 2) Traditional English Breakfast

Part 3) Eating Out

Essay Topic 2

Being that the world of Trainspotting is one of degradation and drugs, death is a prominent part of the events it portrays. Discuss three characters that die in the novel, and in an essay, analyze the significance of their deaths. How does each character die, and what are the underlying sociological causes? How do others react to this death? Is there anything to be learned from the loss of a life in this world?

Part 1) Baby Dawn

Part 2) Billy

Part 3) Matty

Essay Topic 3

Throughout the novel, Welsh juxtaposes the somber and the irreverent. In an essay, discuss three instances in which a moment of deep gravity is undercut by humor or some other undermining element? Why do you think Welsh chooses to undermine his own emotional moments? What is he indicating about life and the bonds that connect us?

(see the answer keys)

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