Trainspotting

The last chapter of the book shows Mark, Simon, Danny, Frank, and Second Prize taking on a major drug deal in London—a very lucrative one. They have a contact, Andreas, who connects them with a major dealer, Gilbert. Gilbert knows that the Edinburgh boys are anything but the “professionals” they think they are (as previously claimed by Frank) and underpays them for a price of £16,000. The boys are happy with this price, however; it’s a huge haul. They want to go celebrate.

Mark, however, claims that he isn’t feeling well. He has relapsed; he and Danny were taking hits of the heroin stash they were meant to sell earlier. While the other boys go out and party, Mark makes off with their money. He deposits half of the cash into his bank account and then buys a ticket to Amsterdam. His remorse is limited; the one person he feels bad about cheating is empathetic Danny: “Spud had never hurt anybody, with the exception of a bit of mental distress caused by his tendency to liberate the contents of people’s pockets” (343).

Mark knows that Frank will kill him if he catches him and that he can never return to London or Leith. In any case, “he could find no sympathy for that fucker. […] [H]is crime in ripping off Begbie was almost virtuous” (343). He has, like Giovanni, exiled himself. He leaves, convinced he will never return.