Trainspotting A Novel By Irvine Welsh Essay

Trainspotting: A Novel By Irvine Welsh Essay, Research Paper

Trainspotting: A Novel By Irvine Welsh

Trainspotting is a captivating story of the random events that occur

during a critical time in a group of Scottish junkies’ lives. Irvine Welsh

illustrates the confusion, anger and turmoil many heroin addicts are subjected

to and what happens once they try to quit.

The story is centered around Mark Renton, an ordinary twenty-two year

old who was raised by a loving mother and father. He has two brothers: one was

catatonic and the other was an overachiever. Through court-mandated therapy he

was told he envied his parents and resented his older brother. This was what

contributed to Rents (what his friends call him) starting to use heroin.

Bit by bit the reader is introduced to Rents’ friends, cousins, friends’

of friends, parents, friends’ parents, the list goes on. Anyone with relevance

to the life of Mark Renton, the reader meets sooner or later. Everyone in Rents’

life is messed up or gets that way somehow. His friend Begbie, for example, is

an unhappy little man. He feels he has to make himself seem tough by surrounding

himself with “friends” who do nothing but boost his ego by letting Begbie put

them down. Aside from being on and off heroin, his good friend Danny Murphy, or

Spud (as everyone calls him) is a habitual thief. His friend Simone is nicknamed

Sick Boy for good reasons. When he is high he hears voices in his head willing

him to do evil things. He likes to shoot dogs as their masters are taking them

for a walk, and he enjoys using women for nothing but sex.. Rents’ date on