Trainspotting

by

Irvine Welsh

Venters Character Analysis

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:
Addiction and Society Theme Icon
).
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), Rent Boy, Tommy, Venters
Related Symbols: Heroin
Page Number: 239
Explanation and Analysis:
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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:
Addiction and Society Theme Icon
).
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), Rent Boy, Tommy, Venters
Related Symbols: Heroin
Page Number: 239
Explanation and Analysis: