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Guilt In Robert Browning's Ordinary Men

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Throughout the length of the book Ordinary Men, Browning outlines the guilt that falls upon the Ordinary Men for their crimes. He often makes a point of expressing the cold heartedness with which the killings were done and the lack of resistance towards these same killings. In fact, within the first chapter a major told his men if they “…did not feel up to the task that lay before him, he could step out” (Browning 2). It is not revealed that any of the men accept this offer. This is one of the clearest demonstrations that the men know what they are doing is a crime of the highest degree, yet they still continue to do it. The men do not shy away from killing because they realize that the burden of it will just fall upon another man’s shoulders
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