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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. At the end of In Overdrive, Sick Boy has a creed against what?

2. Who appears to absconded with the pot in Grieving and Mourning in Port Sunshine?

3. What resolution does Renton make in The First Day of the Edinburgh Festival?

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

5. What does Begbie think about Renton's health in Inner Shitty?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What happens to the communal pot in Grieving and Mourning in Port Sunshine?

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

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

5. How does Renton prepare to come off of junk in The First Day of the Edinburgh Festival?

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

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

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

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

10. How does Spud get in a brawl in Na Na and Other Nazis?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay about women in Trainspotting. Choose three women and discuss their place in the coterie of junkies and loser who comprise the center of the novel. How do they become attached to the group? Are they repelled by the drug-use or part of it? What do they lose within the group and what do they gain? Are any of them particularly well-defined as individuals?

Essay Topic 2

In his quest for sobriety, Renton faces a number of obstacles, mostly of his own creation. In an essay, chart Renton's character arc in the novel. How does he begin the novel, and how does he end it? What tragedies and challenges meet him over the course of the narrative? What losses does he suffer, and what does he learn from this suffering?

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay about the other drugs of the novel besides heroin. While heroin is presented as a life choice unto itself, what other stimulants do characters choose? How do Tommy, Begbie, and Billy add spice to their mundane lives? Discuss how Welsh presents these activities and substances, and whether he presents them as more or less dangerous than smack?

(see the answer keys)

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