Renton took the tape and Lizzie kicked him out, after all. Granted, he killed himself due to his own apathy and misery, but weren't they the ones who put him in that state?
07/08/06... 786... the sentinel of Allah has arrived.
It was like Tommy wanted to belong to the group of the cool guys, and he seemed to consider Renton et al. the cool guys of the city. He was an idiot. He shouldn't even be hanging out with them, period.
shareHarsh but I would have to say I agree with you, at least in the sense that he should have known better. Tommy should have seen that they were *beep* people and should have gone his separate ways a long time before.
Rent did *beep* him over with the video tape though. If Lizzie and him had not broken up in such a negative way based on a misunderstanding, I think he may have been able to cope better. Let me put it this way--it's not directly Rent's fault because it was Tommy's personal responsibility, but he play a role in setting off the chain of events that lead to his downfall.
Renton's action WAS the catalyst for Tommy's decline, yes.
shareTommy is responsible for his own actions and reactions.
Sure Renton took the tape, but Tommy left the sex tape out. Renton would probably given the tape back eventually without Tommy ever knowing it had been viewed; it was a timing issue. Tommy is responsible for keeping that tape somewhere that people will not happen upon it. It's obvious that Lizzie considered it Tommy's responsibility.
When Tommy asks to score the heroin he points out that he is an adult and can find it somewhere else on his own if Renton doesn't help him. He is effectively offering to score for Renton as well at this point and even though he initially hesitates the junkie in him wins with Tommy's logic and the offer of free smack. Later Tommy proves this when he does find it on his own and ends up getting AIDS (It cannot have come from Mother Superior as no one else in that group tests positive).
Plenty of people go on a bender when their girlfriend breaks up with them. How a person deals with a break up is their responsibility. Besides, he actually dies from a brain abscess resulting from Toxoplasmosis that he got from the sick kitten he tried to give Lizzie. Cool make up attempt, try to give your ex a sick kitten.
Yup, they practically held him down and dosed him with AIDS tainted heroin until he became infected and addicted, and then dropped the sick kitten on his prone body.
Heroin itself doesn't give you AIDS. Infected users sharing needles with others is what spreads the disease. My guess is that Tommy might have been a little freaked out after what happened with Allison, and started shooting up with other people. Those might have been the ones with AIDS that shared their needles with him.
shareYeah, I understand how AIDS is transmitted. Hence my comment:
Later Tommy proves this when he does find it on his own and ends up getting AIDS (It cannot have come from Mother Superior as no one else in that group tests positive).
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The kitten wasn't sick. Tommy had Aids so his immune system was shot, therefore making him vulnerable to catching diseases people without Aids aka healthy immune systems would most likely not contract.
Nobody forces anyone to use drugs. That's always a personal choice. People talk about how dealers should be charged with manslaughter if a person overdoses on their Heroin. That's a load of crap and 99% of Heroin/Opiate Addicts would tell you the same. Lock up one dealer, they call another. I did it for close to a decade. I blame myself. I don't blame dealers. They're a dime a dozen
shareTo me he did it to himself.
The stuff with Lizzie seems like a culmination of mishaps that ended up with that bad breakup. He chose to go to an Iggy Pop concert over celebrating her birthday for one, so that's on him.
Rent being the junkie he was, wasn't about to turn down free drugs. Also this was during hard emotional times for the gang, so he hardly wasn't even in his right mind to be making any kind of decisions for other people to begin with.
He knew OF the dangers and how shady his friends could be and still went out seeking it. It was just bad timing because none of them were in a good enough position to talk him out of it. He didn't seem to mesh well with them anyways and I agree with the guy that said it was just like he was trying to find a way to fit in and really enter that inner circle of friendship. He's active and wants to do stuff like play sports and go hiking. He had his own apartment, and probably a job. He did do drugs, but a bump of coke or speed when you're having a good time in a nightclub is hardly comparable to heroin.
All his friends were jobless, still living at home, couch surfing, and just bums pretty much.
I know its hard to cut ties with friends, but he had no business mixing with those guys.
Yeah, the film pretty much implies that Tommy and Lizzie were doing just fine before that incident and that it was the sole cause of their permanent breakup. However, I think that someone attempting to live a straight arrow life like Tommy while being naive to hang around a group like that was waiting for an accident to happen.
See you in hell, candy boys!share
Lizzie did break his heart, which lead to him being depressed, bit remember that HE went to see Rent and asked for the drugs. Rent probably would have done anything for money. On the book Tommy explains that he only had the intention of trying out once, but eventually lead him to become very addicted. I don't think either is at fault, Tommy had the choice not to take it and not to continue taking it.
shareAlso - how did Tommy not in any way connect Renton to the lost videotape, given how he "borrowed" that football video, which in turn appeared instead in that "Tommy & Lizzy volume 1" tape, and how would Renton then explain himself if he was gonna return it?
The greatest trick the Devil has ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist!
Because he's not that bright, probably. Only Renton, Sick Boy, and Diane seem to have any brains.
The videotape isn't in the novel, IIRC.
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The short answer is nope.
share