Kelly is a friend of Rent Boy’s who works as a bartender. She likes him at the beginning of the story, and for a brief period of time they have a relationship, but it ends when Rent Boy goes to London. Over the course of the story, Kelly experiences catcalling and rude treatment from men. While the novel largely portrays a male perspective, Kelly helps expand the perspective and reveal some aspects of Leith life to which many of the male characters are oblivious.
Kelly Quotes in Trainspotting
The Trainspotting quotes below are all either spoken by Kelly or refer to Kelly . 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:
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Get the entire Trainspotting LitChart as a printable PDF.
Kelly Character Timeline in Trainspotting
The timeline below shows where the character Kelly appears in Trainspotting. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Kicking
Alison mentions her friend Kelly, who had an abortion recently and is depressed, and says that someone should go visit...
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...his own little world, drawing on the wall in crayon. Rent Boy thinks about seeing Kelly. He thinks he might be too squeamish to have sex with her if he thinks...
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Exile
...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 report about...
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...to kill animals with an air rifle all the time. Rent Boy is embarrassed that Kelly is there to hear about that, but he simply says he doesn’t like the taste...
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...soccer cheers and gets thrown out. They go to another pub, where Rent Boy and Kelly leave after a drink. Several drinks later, Alison says she’d like Spud to come stay...
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Feeling Free. In a pub, Kelly gets tired of listening to Alison say derogatory things about Rent Boy. She thinks it’s...
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...a foreman comes over and tells his workers to mind their own business, which Alison, Kelly, and the students celebrate as a victory.
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Alison and Kelly go to a café with the “Australian” students (who turn out to actually be New...
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Suddenly, 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...
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The Elusive Mr. Hunt. Kelly is working as a bartender. Sick Boy comes up to her and asks if she’s...
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Home
...He says he’s always been too nervous around drugs to do them. He thinks about Kelly and misses her. The thought of heroin bores him now, even though he admits that...
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Eating Out. Kelly can tell it’s going to be a slow night with poor tips at the bar...
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Kelly decides to take matters into her own hands. She’s in the middle of a heavy...
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...have to pay for it. Johnny asks Rent Boy if he’s still having sex with Kelly. Slightly annoyed by the question, Rent Boy says he isn’t. Johnny says Kelly and Alison...
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