Venters is an HIV-positive man in Davie Mitchell’s support group. Despite his diagnosis, Venters lives recklessly and soon ends up in hospice care. Davie pretends to be Venters’s friend, but really, he is plotting revenge on Venters because Venters raped a woman who went on to accidentally give Mitchell HIV. Mitchell pretends to brutally murder Venters’s son Kevin then murders Venters for real with a pillow. While Venters is undeniably a despicable character, his story raises questions about to what extent Davie Mitchell’s also-extreme actions might or might not be justified.
Venters Quotes in Trainspotting
The Trainspotting quotes below are all either spoken by Venters or refer to Venters . 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:
).
Exile
Quotes
“I always find the term ‘opportunistic infection’ amusing. In our culture, it seems to invoke some admirable quality. I think of the ‘opportunism’ of the entrepreneur who spots a gap in the market, or that of the striker in the penalty box. Tricky buggers, those opportunistic infections.”
Related Characters:
Davie Mitchell (speaker), Venters , Tommy, Rent Boy
Related Symbols:
Heroin
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Trainspotting LitChart as a printable PDF.
Venters Character Timeline in Trainspotting
The timeline below shows where the character Venters appears in Trainspotting. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Exile
Bad Blood. Davie Mitchell meets a man named Alan Venters at his HIV support group. Venters doesn’t stay in the group long and doesn’t take...
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Davie Mitchell thinks back on his encounters with Venters at the support group. During an early meeting, Davie Mitchell lied and said he knowingly...
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Davie Mitchell remembers how Venters always acted like he was immortal during support group meetings. Davie Mitchell and Venters become...
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Davie Mitchell keeps thinking about how he went to visit Venters in hospice care several times, always fantasizing about a final visit when he’d get revenge...
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In his hospice talks with Venters, Davie Mitchell learns that one of the only people in the world Venters cares about...
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One day, right as Venters condition is sharply declining, Davie Mitchell volunteers to help Frances by babysitting Kevin. The Wednesday...
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...begins to feel bad about what he’s doing, wondering if he is any better than Venters, and he feels worse even later when developing some photographs he took.
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After developing the photos, Davie Mitchell goes to visit Venters at the hospice. Venters is happy to see him, but Davie Mitchell finally reveals why...
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Davie Mitchell then pulls out his photos to show Venters. The first photos reveal him and Frances as lovers. Another photo shows him with Kevin...
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Later, Davie Mitchell goes to Venters’s funeral, and the minister gives a short speech because he has few good things to...
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...ends up back with the woman who initially gave him HIV (which she got from Venters). Eventually, Davie Mitchell tells his parents about his HIV diagnosis. At first his father seems...
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