Norman Bowker
Quote 1
"[…] I felt sort of guilty almost, like if I'd kept my mouth shut none of it would've ever happened. Like it was my fault." […] "Nobody's fault," [Bowker] said. "Everybody's." (In the Field.105).
Even Azar—Azar, people! He kills puppies!—is not immune from feelings of guilt. This is a rare moment of introspection for him. He feels somehow responsible for Kiowa's death simply because he was cracking jokes about the way he died. When he sees the body, the guilt really hits home. Bowker, meanwhile, foreshadows Jimmy Cross's musings (coming up next!) when he points out that the guilt is both everyone's and no one's.