# I: One Does Not Always Eat What Is on the Table explained — Can Such Things Be?

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

## What happens

An inquest is held in a remote cabin for the deceased Hugh Morgan. The coroner reads from an old account book found among Morgan's effects. A young journalist, William Harker, arrives late, having posted an account of the events to his newspaper as fiction. He is sworn in and begins to testify about the circumstances of Morgan's death.

## Themes in this chapter

### Death and the Supernatural

The chapter opens with a dead body and an inquest, setting a somber and mysterious tone.

### Isolation and Terror

The remote cabin and the wilderness sounds emphasize the isolation and eerie atmosphere surrounding the death.

## Character check-ins

### Hugh Morgan

Deceased; the subject of the inquest.

### William Harker

Witness; a journalist who was visiting Morgan and has written an account of his death.

## Key lines

> One Does Not Always Eat What Is on the Table

Things are not always as they appear or as one expects.

_The chapter title hints at deception or hidden truths._

> Against a sombre background humor shows high lights. Soldiers in the intervals of battle laugh easily, and a jest in the death chamber conquers by surprise.

Humor stands out in grim situations, just as soldiers laugh during lulls in battle; a joke in a death chamber is unexpected and disarming.

_The narrator comments on the jurors' laughter at the coroner's dry remark._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/can_such_things_be_se/chapters/i-one-does-not-always-eat-what-is-on-the-table
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- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/can_such_things_be_se/chapters