# A Fruitless Assignment explained — Can Such Things Be?

> Chapter companion for Can Such Things Be? by Ambrose Bierce.

## What happens

Henry Saylor, a reporter for the Cincinnati Commercial, is assigned to spend a night alone in the supposedly haunted Roscoe house on Vine Street. Despite the eerie reputation and the crowd outside, Saylor experiences a series of bizarre and terrifying events, including finding a severed head and being surrounded by a laughing, grotesque crowd. When he returns to the office, the city editor is shocked to see him, implying that something inexplicable has occurred.

## Themes in this chapter

### The Uncanny and the Grotesque

The chapter is filled with grotesque imagery, such as the severed head being kicked around like a ball by a laughing crowd, and the uncanny nature of the ghostly figures that appear and disappear without explanation.

### Isolation and Terror

Saylor is alone in the haunted house, cut off from the outside world, and experiences profound terror as he encounters supernatural phenomena and a hostile crowd of ghostly figures.

## Character check-ins

### Henry Saylor

A reporter for the Cincinnati Commercial who is assigned to spend the night in the haunted Roscoe house.

## Key lines

> He raised his eyes from the ghastly object of his attention and saw himself the center of a crowd of men and women dimly seen; the room was thronged with them.

Looking up from the horrifying thing he was holding, he found himself surrounded by a dimly visible crowd of men and women who had filled the room.

_This moment marks the climax of Saylor's haunting, where the supernatural crowd appears._

> They danced about it with gestures grotesque and attitudes obscene and indescribable.

The crowd moved around the head with grotesque and obscene gestures that were impossible to describe.

_Highlights the grotesque and chaotic nature of the ghostly figures._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/can_such_things_be_se/chapters/a-fruitless-assignment
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/can_such_things_be_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/can_such_things_be_se/chapters