Irvine Welsh Essays

  • Trainspotting: A Novel By Irvine Welsh

    562 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

  • Trainspotting Friendship Quotes

    1582 Words  | 4 Pages

    Irvine Welsh’s novel Trainspotting centres on Mark Renton and his group of friends, who are drug addicts living in 1980s Scotland, and follows their misadventures as their lives begin to deteriorate. While the detrimental effects of heroin and other drugs are clearly displayed, the negative effects of their unhealthy friendships are less obvious but equally toxic. Friendship in Trainspotting is a destructive force because it is corrupted by selfishness; it becomes an addiction which mirrors that

  • Irvine Welsh's Marabou Stork Nightmares

    1385 Words  | 3 Pages

    Irvine Welsh's Marabou Stork Nightmares Works Cited Missing The text I have chosen to focus on is Irvine Welsh's, 'Marabou Stork Nightmares,' as I have found it particularly interesting I comparison to the other novels. Irvine Welsh introduces us to the wildly active, albeit coma-beset mind of Roy Strang, whose hallucinatory quest to eradicate the evil Marabou Stork keeps being interrupted by disturbing memories of social and family dysfunction that brought him to this state. In the novel

  • Trainspotting

    1329 Words  | 3 Pages

    Trainspotting, written by Scottish author Irvine Welsh, is a story following the lives of a group of heroin-addicted youth in Edinburgh, known as the “Skag Boys”. The story alternates between narrators but maintains a focus on the most sane of the group, Mark Renton, who builds a reputation for dropping his addiction and relapsing suddenly. The illicit drug culture the Skag Boys live provide insight to a life different from the stereotypical image of bagpipe-playing, kilt-wearing, red-headed scots

  • The Auteur Theory

    774 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Auteur Theory It compares the film director to the author of a book, it attributes artistic control to the director and proposes that the film is the artistic project of the director primarily. His or her vision, creativity, and design determine the end result, the finished film. Basically, it means that if the director is an auteur, the film will be completely their ideas and visions and

  • Heroin Addicts In Trainspotting

    994 Words  | 2 Pages

    Trainspotting follows a group of people who live in Leith who are heroin addicts as well as friends of said heroin addicts who take part in destructive behaviour. The addicts have little morals when it comes to deceiving their friends but the story is about their relationships with one and other and how they maintain the bond they share. It is set in the late 1980’s and the Sunday Times called it “the voice of punk, grown up, grown wiser and grown eloquent.” The book gives a very bleak look into

  • How Do the Makers of "Trainspotting" Depict British Youth Sub-culture?

    1004 Words  | 3 Pages

    exploitative self interest that characterises the everyday life of heroin addiction." (Petrie 90) Its' realistic style, use of language and unflinching portrayal of drug use was what first attracted me to look at it a bit closer. Based on the novel by Irvine Welsh, it tells the story of a group of working class unemployed drug addicts, focusing on their problems with heroin abuse, inability to get a job and family problems. Set in Edinburgh in the early nineties, Danny Boyle's (director) style is undoubtedly

  • Scottish Culture

    1420 Words  | 3 Pages

    of all time is Robert Burns (Fraser 185). Known as the “immortal Rabbie”, Burns wrote the words to “Auld Lang Syne,” the song sung around the world every New Year’s Eve (Begley 115). Booker prize winner James Kelman, Alasdar Gray, Iain Banks and Irvine Welsh are also popular novelists and short fiction writers (Fraser 185). The movie Trainspotting, directed by Danny Boyle and based on Welsh’s novel of Edinburgh’s drug culture, has attracted a cult following like that of a rock band (Fraser 186). Sir

  • Jamaica Kincaid's essay On Seeing England for the first Time

    2323 Words  | 5 Pages

    "It's shit being Scottish! We're the scum of the fucking earth! Some people hate the English. I don't. They're just wankers. We're the ones what were colonised by wankers. We couldn't even pick a decent bunch of people to be colonised by." -Irvine Welsh, Trainspotting The cultural ties to empire are not so easy to efface as the political ones. This is perhaps one of the most important lessons the world has learned from the mass movement towards independence on the part of European colonies

  • Reflection Paper

    1057 Words  | 3 Pages

    The process of choosing the right college is not a decision to be taken lightly. The next four years of your life should be at a place where you can thrive. So often people disregard the idea of college, and can’t grasp the concept that this next step in your life is not only exciting but frightening. This isn’t like going to Starbucks and spending a half hour ordering a drink that will only last you an hour, this decision has a direct impact on your future. The fact of the matter is that college

  • The People and Landscape of the Welsh Hillcountry

    1886 Words  | 4 Pages

    The People and Landscape of the Welsh Hillcountry R.S. Thomas writes about the people and landscape of the Welsh “hillcountry.” By referring closely to at least two of his poems, show how he makes the Welsh countryside and its inhabitants vivid to the reader. RS Thomas was born in Cardiff in 1913. He was a Parish Priest in Wales for more than 20 years. During this time he taught himself the Welsh language in order to understand the remote hill farmers that are under his care. He writes

  • Daffyd's Journey

    748 Words  | 2 Pages

    aged him. He couldn't fight the dreams like he used to. But he did have wisdom and experience on his side, though he was hard-pressed to figure out how that could help. He cast around for another subject. His mother's mother was Welsh. His mother had brought him up Welsh, her name for him had been 'Daffyd'. He wondered why he remembered that. He was confused, he didn't know what he was feeling or why. He shook his head, and with some small sense of purpose, climbed out of bed. He had decided to

  • An Analysis of Singing to Wolves

    930 Words  | 2 Pages

    wonderful solitude is,  but also considers it’s negative side,  with the example of a lonely girl.  The poem starts off with a brief encounter into the history of Wales,  and talks about the Llanthony monks,  who the reader is told were unloved by the Welsh,  and thus driven to a lonely life in the wilderness.  By reading this poem,  it seems as though being unloved is a popular reason for solitude.  After this brief insight into Wales’ history the reader is then taken back to the realms of modern day

  • Influenza Outbreak

    850 Words  | 2 Pages

    heart of Irvine. Four years ago the good citizens of this great city had no idea that a terrible pandemic would threaten their very lives and the lives of their loved ones. When signs of the flu season came around in late October this year, no one would have imaged that a disease, often with symptoms like a common cold, would have by the end of the year killed almost half of those killed in the Great War itself. Places all across the nation have had to deal with the sick and dying and Irvine is no

  • Describing The Obelisk

    1248 Words  | 3 Pages

    in front of the Irvine Spectrum Center is a commanding sight to see. The 50-foot high fiber optic wonder is an impressive display of ancient shape and modern technology. During the evening hours, the needle rhythmically fades from one color to another, changing shades and hues. In daylight, it is a gleaming white beacon to all who look on. It is the identifying feature of a large business center know as the Irvine Spectrum. It is located where the 5 and 405 freeways connect in Irvine. This plaza contains

  • Costa Mesa Newcomers Guide

    903 Words  | 2 Pages

    that’s as vibrant as Costa Mesa. Its Spanish name reflects its geographical feature, literally a coastal tableland that affords views of the Pacific Ocean, just one mile from its southernmost border. It is an ideal location with easy access to nearby Irvine and Anaheim, and only 37 miles for Los Angeles and less than 90 miles to San Diego – great for commuting to employment centers, shopping, entertainment, recreation and cultural attractions. Costa Mesa’s proximity to the Santa Ana River made it historically

  • Hannay 'The-Thirty Nine Steps'

    679 Words  | 2 Pages

    In this Essay I am going to explain and talk about the two short stories known as “The-Thirty nine steps” it’s a book that has mystery, adventure and action in its content. This story starts with a man named Hannay that had recently came back to his country after being in Africa most of his life, the problem is that he is boring but his life changes when a man come to his door and tell him a plan of an evil organization that wants to start a war by killing a Prime Minister of two powerful countries

  • Elizabeth George

    1079 Words  | 3 Pages

    novel by the time she graduated from Holy Cross High School in Mountain View." She taught English at several California high schools and has conducted creative writing courses at Coastline College (Costa Mesa, CA), Irvine Valley College (Irvine, CA), and the University of California, Irvine. She was selected Teacher of the Year by the Orange County Department of Education in 1981. Contemporary Authors quotes Ms. George, "I'm often asked why I write about England. The answer lies in my philosophy: 'Write

  • George Mallory and Andrew Irvine- The First to Climb Mt. Everest

    1327 Words  | 3 Pages

    8th 1924 George Mallory and Andrew Irvine, two British mountaineers, left Camp VI on Mt. Everest with the intention of reaching the mountain’s peak; they never returned. Since Hillary’s success, Mallory and Irvine have been all but forgotten, until a successful search expedition in 1999 dedicated solely to solving this mystery rekindled an aspiration to find the answer. The evidence discovered during this expedition proves that George Mallory and Andrew Irvine died while descending Mt. Everest, after

  • Did Mallory make it?

    1023 Words  | 3 Pages

    Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reached the summit of the world, Mount Everest, at 29,029 feet. For 46 years their triumph was undisputed; until May 1st 1999 at 11.45am. At 27,000 feet below the Yellow Band on the North side of Mount Everest the Mallory and Irvine Research Expedition made mountaineering history. Following his senses, Conrad Anker, a world renowned American mountaineer, decided to stray from the search group. He came across not one but two bodies, both from the modern era judging by their clothing