Alison is a member of Rent Boy’s friend group, although she remains antagonistic toward Rent Boy himself most of the time. She is particularly good friends with Kelly. She has sex with Sick Boy and Spud, although like Rent Boy, she has conflicted feelings about her friends and sometimes seems to dislike them. Like Kelly, Alison helps balance the male-dominated perspective of the book.
Alison Quotes in Trainspotting
The Trainspotting quotes below are all either spoken by Alison or refer to Alison . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Blowing It
Quotes
Funny thing wis, jist before this, ah remembered boastin thit ah’d niver OD’d in ma puff. Thir’s a first time fir everything. It wis Swanney’s fault. His gear’s normally cut tae fuck, so ye always bung that wee bit mair intae the cooking spoon tae compensate. Then whit does the cunt dae?
Related Characters:
Rent Boy (speaker), Johnny Swan , Alison
Related Symbols:
Heroin
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Exile
Quotes
The guys are looking embarrassed, really shit up by the crowd that’s developed. It’s sortay like, feeding off itself.
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Trainspotting LitChart as a printable PDF.
Alison Character Timeline in Trainspotting
The timeline below shows where the character Alison appears in Trainspotting. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Kicking
...to sweat. When they make it to the top, Johnny is already high. Raymie and Alison are also there.
(full context)
...so Raymie puts on a live version of “Heroin” by Lou Reed. Sick Boy helps Alison take a speedball of heroin (“skag”) and cocaine. Johnny offers Sick Boy a shot—but only...
(full context)
Alison mentions her friend Kelly, who had an abortion recently and is depressed, and says that...
(full context)
The group sits and talks for a while, and then Alison and Sick Boy get up, seemingly to go have sex. Raymie, meanwhile, is off in...
(full context)
Blowing It
...taking too strong a dose of heroin at Johnny Swan’s place, then Johnny Swan and Alison taking him to the hospital. It’s Rent Boy’s first time overdosing.
(full context)
Exile
...of people high on drugs enter a bar. The group includes Spud, Begbie, Rent Boy, Alison, and Kelly. They all drink while Kelly flirts with Rent Boy. They see a news...
(full context)
...to another pub, where Rent Boy and Kelly leave after a drink. Several drinks later, Alison says she’d like Spud to come stay with her for a while because she doesn’t...
(full context)
Feeling Free. In a pub, Kelly gets tired of listening to Alison say derogatory things about Rent Boy. She thinks it’s hypocritical that Alison wants to criticize...
(full context)
The meeting at the Housing Department goes well, but Alison is still tense and reacts angrily on the way out when some workers catcall them....
(full context)
Alison and Kelly go to a café with the “Australian” students (who turn out to actually...
(full context)
...Rent Boy shows up at the door of Kelly’s apartment. He’s a surprised to see Alison and two stoned strangers there. The women all make fun of Rent Boy, with Kelly...
(full context)
Home
Memories of Matty. Begbie, Rent Boy, Spud, Alison, and others have all gathered for Matty’s funeral. At a small chapel connected to the...
(full context)
...Matty. Spud remembers how when Matty was stoned, he used to watch Australian soap operas. Alison remembers having sex with Matty a long time ago, back before either of them started...
(full context)
Still the pub, Rent Boy goes over to join a conversation between Spud and Alison. Spud says he’s attended way too many funerals for someone his age. He wonders who’s...
(full context)
...Kelly. Slightly annoyed by the question, Rent Boy says he isn’t. Johnny says Kelly and Alison came by the other day to observe the “freak show” he’s become. Johnny says he...
(full context)
...to acknowledge Rent Boy’s impatience and starts talking again about how he tried to make Alison give him oral sex. Finally, Rent Boy gets up to leave.
(full context)
