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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 Stevie tell Stella before leaving for Edinburgh in Victory on New Year's Day?

2. Whose house is Davie in in Traditional English Breakfast?

3. What playwright does Renton talk to the English girls in In Overdrive about?

4. In Junk Dilemmas No. 64, who is knocking on Renton's door as he reels, following a hit?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the cause of the brawl in Her Man?

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

3. Why is Stevie sad on New Years?

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

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

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

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

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

9. How does Renton meet Dianne?

10. How does Davie ruin breakfast in Traditional English Breakfast?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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?

Essay Topic 2

The two primary settings of the novel are Leith and London. Write an essay comparing and contrasting these two locales. How is London dynamic and Leith distinctly static? Discuss the relative likelihood for heroin use in each of the settings. Which is more conducive to sobriety and why? Which major events occur in each, and how do these events come to define the world of this setting?

Essay Topic 3

Trainspotting, in many ways, resembles a collection of short stories. It follows several key characters but occasionally diverts to a seemingly unrelated narrative. Write an essay about two of these chapters:

Part 1) Describe the narrative of Grieving and Mourning in Port Sunshine. How are these characters connected to the other characters of the rest of the novel? Thematically, what is discusses in the chapter, and how does this relate to other chapters?

Part 2) Discuss the narrative of Bad Blood. Who is Davie, and how has he appeared in the rest of the novel? Describe the themes covered in Davie's story, and how the tone of the piece fits with the rest of the novel.

(see the answer keys)

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