The Returning Guilt and Blame Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #4

While Cam swam, Ban fidgeted about on the bank and told Cam about the guilty feeling he had been holding, the length of summer. (4.51)

Ban's family doesn't like him hanging out with Cam because they think he's a bad influence. No one's really sure what Cam's been up to, and Ban feels badly for spending time with the guy given his family's feelings.

Quote #5

Cam had a hunger in him. He didn't know what it was, and he didn't know how to assuage it. It was an always-hunger, but worse now, in this after-the-war stillness. (5.1)

Cam is hungry for life, for adventure and thrills. This is what led him to war, and what leaves him to venture out again once it's over—even though both of these decisions leave him with some guilt.

Quote #6

Why me? he asked himself, looking down from the wall onto the wide sward where he had fought, now green and growing with the bodies of Kayforliers, Isycherns, Dunnemen lying under it. (5.58)

All Cam can do when he thinks about war is question why over and over again. This is a classic sign of his survivor's guilt for being the only Downlander to come out of the war. Sometimes there are no reasons why—it's just luck, fate, or a mixture of the two.