61 pages • 2 hours read
Irvine WelshTrainspotting
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1993A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Summary
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 1, Chapters 1-3
Part 1, Chapters 4-6
Part 1, Chapters 7-10
Part 2, Chapters 11-13
Part 2, Chapters 14-17
Part 3, Chapters 18-19
Part 3, Chapters 20-21
Part 4, Chapters 22-24
Part 4, Chapters 25-28
Part 5, Chapters 29-31
Part 5, Chapters 32-33
Part 6, Chapters 34-36
Part 6, Chapters 37-39
Part 6, Chapters 40-42
Part 7, Chapter 43
Character Analysis
Themes
Symbols & Motifs
Important Quotes
Essay Topics
Part 2, Chapters 11-13Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 2: “Relapsing”
Chapter 11 Summary: “Scotland Takes Drugs in Psychic Defence”
The second part of the book starts with Tommy’s perspective. He has a girlfriend, Lizzy, who he describes admiringly as a “pure steel woman,” saying, “Even Sick Boy’s jealous ay me. Being Lizzy’s boyfriend does confer status, but fame costs, as they say” (72).
Tommy bought tickets to see Iggy Pop with his friend Mitch (Mitchell), and Lizzy picks a fight about it. On the night of the show, she says she wants to go see a movie, The Accused, with Al Pacino, but Tommy is set to go to the Iggy Pop gig. She explodes in anger: “She calls me all the fuck-ups under the sun” (72).
Unlike most of his friends, Tommy is not addicted to heroin yet. He prefers speed because it goes well with drinking. Before the Iggy Pop concert, he borrows money from his parents for booze and drugs. He and his pal Mitch get drunk and start fighting. The chapter ends with Tommy deliriously taking in the Iggy Pop concert: “Iggy Pop looks right at me as he sings the line: ‘America takes drugs in psychic defence’; only he changes American’ for ‘Scatlin’” (75).
Chapter 12 Summary: “The Glass”
Mark describes a night out with Frank Begbie and Frank’s girlfriend, June. Mark brings along a girl named Hazel whom he has slept with a few times although without much pleasure: “It was like sleeping with a surfboard” (76).
The four head to a pub, which is overcome by a group of skinheads. The racists disgust Mark: “Ah hate cunts like that. Cunts like Begbie. Cunts that are intae baseball-batting every fucker that’s different; pakis, poofs, n what huv ye” (78). Frank Begbie, who has a penchant for violence, eventually chucks a glass into the crowd so that it hits one of the skinheads. A brawl breaks out.
Mark ends up reflecting on Frank’s violent and psychotic behavior. He acknowledges that he and his other friends have built up an image of Frank but that it’s a false one: “Myth: Begbie backs up his mates. Reality: Begbie smashes fuck oot ay innocent wee daft cunts” (83). Still, the four leave the pub together.
Chapter 13 Summary: “A Disappointment”
Chapter 13 shifts to Begbie’s point of view. He is out with Tommy, again looking for a fight. He tries to bait another guy into fighting but fails, concluding the man is not tough enough to fight.
Chapters 11-13 Analysis
Tommy’s narrative in Chapter 11 is telling in two respects. For one thing, his views of his girlfriend Lizzy show a common attitude among the Skag Boys—that of women being conquests, possessions, or objects. She confers status on him, so much so that even notorious womanizer Simon is jealous. Such a viewpoint is also confirmed by Mark’s description of sex with Hazel in Chapter 12; she clearly doesn’t enjoy the act, but he has needs to be met.
The other telling moment of Tommy’s narrative in Chapter 11 comes when he first thinks Iggy Pop is looking at him while singing. But then: “His eyes are on someone else” (75). This reflects the high that comes with drugs: One minute you’re the center of the universe, feeling like a star, the next you’re not.
Finally, there is some foreshadowing in Tommy’s storytelling when he says: “The next day ah’ve got terrible mouth ulcers” (73). Sores in the mouth are a telltale sign of HIV/AIDS, leaving the reader wondering if Tommy may be soon joining the ranks of “wee Goagsie,” the faceless character always mentioned when discussions around HIV/AIDS arise.
The bar fight in Chapter 11 speaks to the streak of violence running through much of the drugging and boozing subculture in Edinburgh. It again raises the problem of how toxic friends are to shake, much like a drug habit. Mark clearly dislikes Begbie, who is violent, racist, and verging on psychotic. However, he concludes his unveiling of Begbie’s faults with: “The big problem is, he’s a mate n aw. What kin ye dae?” (84). For the Skag Boys, friends are family (more so than their “real” families), and you can’t shake your family—it’s a blood issue.
