Blame

"'Nobody's fault,' he said ' Everybody's." (pg. 176)

Tone
The tone O'Brien incorporates in this passage is one of hopelessness. One can hear it in the words being used. It was nobody's fault for Kiowa dying and yet to not have prevented it in the first place was everyone. The people at home, the President, it was not the "everybody" in the platoon but the whole world. The tone is one of all knowing too. Bowker expresses deep insight on the events taken place with these few words. He expresses the blame people feel and the tragedies of war that one must face. So who can people blame? Can they blame one person so they can feel better or blame the world and still not have a person to put with a death. It's scary but its true, not all deaths have somebody to blame.