Trainspotting (novel) - Characters

Characters

• Mark Renton – the main character and antihero of the novel, Renton is the voice of (relative) sanity among his group of friends, many of whom he cannot stand. He narrates his daily life – from supporting his heroin addiction with dole money and petty theft to interacting with the "normal world" – with a cynical, black-humoured eye. He is capable of fitting in well enough to common society, is relatively good-looking and of above-average intelligence, but is misanthropic and depressed, and uses heroin both as a means to withdraw and to give meaning to his life.
• Simon "Sick Boy" Williamson – A slick, promiscuous, amoral con artist, and Renton's oldest friend. He picks up women with ease and flaunts this quality in front of his friends. He is often on the lookout for potential scams, and despite his friendly, charming facade, he generally regards the women he seduces with little more than contempt. By the end of the novel, he has become a pimp of young girls. Essentially, a combination of Byronic hero and villain, he becomes even more immoral after the death of his daughter Dawn, who asphyxiates while her mother Lesley and Sick Boy are on a heroin binge (Sick Boy himself denies parental responsibility until years after the fact, but it is heavily implied that he blames himself for Dawn's death). Sick Boy considers himself above everyone he interacts with in terms of class, restraint, and moral fibre, despite being one of the most shallow and callous characters in the novel. When thinking to himself, he often imagines he is speaking with Sean Connery. While Begbie represents unavoidable, unanswerable violence to the antihero of the novel, Sick Boy represents cold, calculated expediency, the type of life that Renton would have if he had no conscience or moral restraints.
• Daniel "Spud" Murphy – Naive and childlike, Spud is both the whipping boy and only real source of comfort among Renton's circle of friends; they feel genuinely protective of him, even as they repeatedly mock and take advantage of him. Although very light-fingered, Spud is notably more kindhearted than his friends, shown, for instance, in his love for animals. Spud represents the product of a society indifferent to social ills; he uses heroin because it feels good and because the simple truth is that he would not be able to achieve anything even when sober. Spud is sent to Saughton prison for a section of the novel for petty theft.
• Francis "Franco" Begbie – A violent sociopath, Begbie terrorises his "friends" into going along with whatever he says, assaulting and brutalising anyone who angers him. He expresses intense loyalty to his friends though he considers junkies to be the lowest form of life, despite being thoroughly addicted himself to alcohol, amphetamine, and, most notably, the adrenaline rush of violence. He is part of the YLT (Young Leith Team) football hooligan gang.
• Davie Mitchell – The "everyman" of the novel, Davie seems to be the most "normal" of the characters. Unlike the others, he is a university graduate and holds down a decent job, and represents, to a degree, the "straight life" most of the characters try to avoid. He is not immune to the dangers of his environment, however, and his life is thrown into chaos when he contracts HIV; his experiences with the disease form the basis of the story in the chapter "Bad Blood".
• Tommy Laurence – A childhood friend of Renton's, Tommy does not use heroin and seems completely content to drink, use speed, play football, and listen to Iggy Pop. However, he is insecure and depends on others for validation; when his girlfriend dumps him, he numbs the depression by experimenting with heroin, grudgingly provided by Renton. His resulting addiction weighs on Renton's conscience (and in part provokes him to seriously attempt sobriety). Tommy ends up hooked on smack, living in a run-down shithole of a flat, and contracting HIV before the end of the novel.