# II: What May Happen in a Field of Wild Oats explained — Can Such Things Be? > Chapter companion for Can Such Things Be? by Ambrose Bierce. ## What happens The narrator recounts a hunting expedition with Hugh Morgan, during which they encounter an invisible, violent entity in a field of wild oats. Morgan reacts with terror, fires his gun, and is brutally attacked and killed by an unseen force, leaving the narrator horrified and bewildered. ## Themes in this chapter ### Violence and Mortality The sudden, brutal death of Hugh Morgan at the hands of an unseen assailant underscores the fragility of life and the violent nature of the encounter. ### The Uncanny and the Grotesque The invisible entity, the unnatural movement of the wild oats, and Morgan's dismemberment create a deeply unsettling and grotesque scene. ## Character check-ins ### Hugh Morgan The narrator's friend who is killed by an invisible entity during a quail hunt. ### Stevens The narrator and companion of Hugh Morgan, who witnesses the bizarre and fatal attack. ## Key lines > We so rely upon the orderly operation of familiar natural laws that any seeming suspension of them is noted as a menace to our safety, a warning of unthinkable calamity. Our dependence on the predictable workings of nature makes any apparent violation of those laws feel like a threat, heralding disaster. _Reflects the narrator's psychological response to the uncanny event._ > I saw again the mysterious movement of the wild oats, prolonging itself from the trampled area about the prostrate man toward the edge of a wood. I witnessed the strange, creeping motion of the oats extending from where Morgan lay to the forest's edge. _Describes the invisible entity's retreat after the attack._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/can_such_things_be_se/chapters/ii-what-may-happen-in-a-field-of-wild-oats - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/can_such_things_be_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/can_such_things_be_se/chapters