# II: Statement of Caspar Grattan explained — Can Such Things Be?

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

## What happens

Caspar Grattan, a man with no memory of his past before twenty years ago, recounts his life of wandering, poverty, and haunting guilt. He describes a recurring dream in which he suspects his wife of infidelity, returns home unexpectedly, and strangles her in a fit of jealous rage. The dream blurs with reality, and he lives under a constant sense of crime and punishment, awaiting death as a release.

## Themes in this chapter

### Guilt and Retribution

The narrator is haunted by a recurring dream of murdering his wife, living in constant penance and a sense of crime and punishment.

### Identity and Self

Caspar Grattan lacks a past and a true name, having given himself a name; his identity is fragmented and uncertain.

### Madness and Perception

The narrator's memories are described as 'crimson dreams' and 'witch-fires,' and he cannot distinguish between dream and reality.

## Character check-ins

### Caspar Grattan

The narrator, a man with no memory before twenty years ago, who lives under a burden of guilt and a recurring dream of murdering his wife.

## Key lines

> Today I am said to live; tomorrow, here in this room, will lie a senseless shape of clay that all too long was I.

I am alive today, but tomorrow I will be dead, just a lifeless body.

_The narrator reflects on his impending death and the insignificance of his physical form._

> Backward beyond the beginning of this via dolorosa—this epic of suffering with episodes of sin—I see nothing clearly; it comes out of a cloud.

Before this painful journey of suffering and sin began, I have no clear memories; it all emerges from a fog.

_The narrator describes his lack of memory before twenty years ago, framing his life as a painful path._

> I seem once to have lived near a great city, a prosperous planter, married to a woman whom I loved and distrusted.

I think I once lived near a large city as a wealthy farmer, married to a woman I both loved and mistrusted.

_The narrator recalls a vague past life of prosperity and marital suspicion._

> With murder in my heart, I sprang after him, but he had vanished without even the bad luck of identification.

Filled with murderous intent, I chased after him, but he disappeared before I could identify him.

_The narrator describes his rage upon seeing a man leave his house in the night._

> Instantly my hands were at her throat, stifling a shriek, my knees were upon her struggling body; and there in the darkness, without a word of accusation or reproach, I strangled her till she died!

I immediately grabbed her throat, silenced her scream, pinned her down, and strangled her to death in the dark without saying anything.

_The narrator recounts the climax of his dream in which he murders his wife._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/can_such_things_be_se/chapters/ii-statement-of-caspar-grattan
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/can_such_things_be_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/can_such_things_be_se/chapters