How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
So why do I feel so guilty? I don't sleep so good at night. I keep seein' the fire and hearin' his screams and feelin' so helpless. He was too young to die like that. It's not fair. He never had a chance. Was all this done to teach us kids a lesson? Will it stop us from drinkin' and drivin'? Maybe—a few. (5.2)
B.J.'s prayer tells us that he feels guilty over Robbie's death even though he wasn't drinking—or driving. Why? He wishes he would have stopped the guys from being so reckless, but he went along with it so they would like him.
Quote #2
"You can't blame yourself forever, Andy. And if you had died instead of Rob, would you want him to be hurting like you are now?" (7.10)
With his coach, Andy admits how he really feels. He wants to be dead instead of Rob. But his coach readily counters by inviting him to consider a different scenario, one in which Andy lives and Robbie dies. It isn't just his coach who doesn't think Andy doesn't deserve happiness—he points out that Robbie wouldn't think so either.
Quote #3
"Even I thought it was a real easy sentence, maybe too easy. Do you think that was right? Shouldn't I been sent to jail or somethin'?" (7.43)
Andy thinks he should be suffering more for what he did. This is classic guilt: You want to punish yourself for something, even when others think you're suffering plenty. Andy thinks he got off easy with the court, so he takes it upon himself to play the blame-game.
Quote #4
"How did you feel then?"
"Like a piece of crap."
"Why?"
"'Cause it was my fault that Rob died."
"Why do you say that?"
"I was drinkin'. I was drivin'."
"Do you think Rob blames you?"
"I don't know. Probably not. He was such a cool dude. He took everythin' real easy. Nothin' hardly ever upset him."
"So maybe you're blaming yourself for something that Rob forgives you for?"
"Maybe." (11.28-37)
In his conversation with the psychologist, Andy goes back and forth about whether or not he is to blame. The final answer? He knows Rob doesn't blame him, but he still feels terrible. It's no surprise that he feels this way since he crashed the car after having some beer, but Andy also can't seem to find any forgiveness for himself.
Quote #5
"I'd say I'm not surprised. Sometimes it's part of the guilt and grieving process—to consider suicide as an alternative to the pain. But the answer is life, Andy, not death. So then I'd tell you about the other alternatives to help eliminate the pain." (20.38)
It's too bad Andy doesn't take the psychologist's advice. Sure, he does initially, but when times get tough, he can't stand it any longer and decides to take his own life. What do you think pushes him over the edge?
Quote #6
How can you tell the parents of your best friend that you're sorry that you killed their son? There's no words to cover something that awful. I know you must hate me. I wish there was some way I could've traded places with him, you know, like I should have died, and Rob should be okay. (22.1)
Andy's letter to Rob's parents is heartfelt and difficult to write, and the guilt expresses here might be the most legit guilt he feels. Robbie's parents forgive him, though, which Andy never manages to do for himself.
Quote #7
"We've almost finished our study of Macbeth. We've watched Macbeth change from a noble, trusted, dedicated soldier, willing to sacrifice his life for king and country, to a wretched, depraved, corrupt murderer who no longer has feelings of guilt or morality. It's a fascinating study of the degeneration of the human spirit." (23.1)
When the class studies Macbeth, they talk about how the main character no longer has guilt over his actions. The teacher calls him "depraved" and the students think he deserves to die. For Andy, though, things are opposite—he has way too much guilt.
Quote #8
But I think the only reason that he was so depressed was because he had been the cause of so much death that he couldn't find nothin' else good about livin'. (23.37)
Here, B.J. talks about Macbeth's actions, but Andy runs out of the classroom upset. It hits too close to home. He thinks about how he, too, killed his best friend, and thinks he mustn't have a reason to live either, just like Macbeth.
Quote #9
"Yeah, I guess I always will, but I'm learnin' to live with it."
"I think if you had said that you no longer felt guilty, I'd be worried. I see quite a bit of improvement in you, Andy. You have progressed from a state of 'wanting to die' to the much more positive outlook of 'learning to live.' That's encouraging." (25.16-17)
In his final session with the psychologist, Andy admits that he still feels guilty, but he thinks that will always be the case. The doc agrees. Hey, it's normal to have guilt over what happened—it's just not okay to let it get to you.
Quote #10
I will never, never forget him, or that terrible night. And we felt guilty too—guilty that it was our stupid behavior that caused it, and guilty that we had lived and he had died. I been able to deal with the guilt—day by day it gets easier to handle. But you—you never got out from under the blame you put on yourself. (44.1)
Tyrone's letter shows us how everyone else feels about the accident. It's not just Andy who feels guilty over Robbie's death; the other boys do, too. He doesn't get why Andy didn't talk to them about it or heal with them, and instead just pushed them away.