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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. In It Goes Without Saying, who thinks the group should leave the flat?
2. What playwright does Renton talk to the English girls in In Overdrive about?
3. What happened the last time Begbie started a fight?
4. Why can Davie not remember where he is at the beginning of Traditional English Breakfast?
5. What source of income are Spud and Renton trying to protect in Speedy Recruitment?
Short Essay Questions
1. How is Begbie's home-life portrayed at the beginning of Inner Shitty?
2. What strange occurrence happens at the wake in Growing Up in Public?
3. What sadistic joke does Johnny Swan play in The Skag Boys?
4. How do the junkies react to the tragedy that occurs in It Goes Without Saying?
5. How does Spud get in a brawl in Na Na and Other Nazis?
6. Why are the mates made anxious by Begbie's plans for this chapter?
7. How do Renton and Sick Boy pick up girls in In Overdrive?
8. In what state is Renton at the beginning of the chapter?
9. How does Sick Boy dictate activities in The Skag Boys?
10. How do Spud and Renton commiserate at the club?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
Mark Renton is clearly the protagonist of Trainspotting, in that the reader most frequently shares his emotional life. Write an essay about three of his experiences and how the reader learns a lesson in surrogate:
Part 1) Why does Renton give Tommy his first hit of heroin, and is he aware of the peril involved? Discuss the clear-headedness of this moment and Renton's culpability in what follows. How does the inhumanity of this choice lead to moments of deep empathy later?
Part 2) Discuss Renton's worldview throughout the novel. What does he feel about friendship, and how does this color his attitude toward his mates? What role does heroin play in this worldview? Explore the transition of Renton out of this worldview.
Part 3) Discuss the final passages of the novel. Why does Renton choose to betray his mates in the final moment? What does he gain from it, and what introspection does he offer about the ramifications of the decision?
Essay Topic 2
Undoubtedly, the two most unappealing characters of Trainspotting are Begbie and Sick Boy> Write an essay about these characters. Why are they so despicable? What goal do they have and what tactics do they use to try to achieve them? How do these two characters represent dual sides of sin, complementing each other in their ill deals and transgressions?
Essay Topic 3
Trainspotting's prose often resembles a series of amusing or pathetic anecdotes related over a pint at a pub. Write an essay discussing how Welsh subverts the frame of the pub story. How does he intermingle the prurient with the profound? In the structure of the novel, how do individual anecdotes add up to something more in concert together? What is the end result of these tales?
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This section contains 1,139 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) |
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