# I: The Review as a Form of Welcome explained — Can Such Things Be?

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

## What happens

A man stands on a hill at night, observing a silent procession of ghostly soldiers marching along a moonlit road. He is disoriented and fearful, thinking the army may be Confederate forces moving on Nashville. The column vanishes as dawn breaks, leaving him bewildered in a peaceful pastoral landscape.

## Themes in this chapter

### The Uncanny and the Grotesque

The silent, ghostly army marching in moonlight and its sudden disappearance evoke an uncanny, unsettling atmosphere.

### Isolation and Terror

The man's profound disquiet and sense of personal peril amid the lonely, silent landscape highlight themes of isolation and terror.

### Fate and Inevitability

The inexorable march of the spectral column suggests an inevitable, fateful progression beyond the man's understanding.

## Character check-ins

### Halpin Frayser

The unnamed man on the hill, disoriented and observing the spectral army.

## Key lines

> It is so, perhaps, that we shall act when, risen from the dead, we await the call to judgment.

The man's disorientation mirrors how we might feel after resurrection, waiting for judgment.

_Connects the scene to a supernatural, post-mortem experience._

> The entire column had passed out of sight: the straight white road lay bare and desolate in the moonlight!

The army vanished instantly, leaving the road empty and eerie.

_Highlights the mysterious disappearance of the ghostly procession._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/can_such_things_be_se/chapters/i-the-review-as-a-form-of-welcome
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/can_such_things_be_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/can_such_things_be_se/chapters