It makes it sound like a dark place. Maybe a place that wouldn’t inspire positivity and creative thoughts.

The impact of the downfunnelled light in this scene serves to highlight one aspect, in this case the reporter’s hips, and casts a shadow everywhere else. Perhaps Faulkner wants to emphasize the reporter’s posture or defeated look in this scene.

The “downfunnelled light” not only describes the light condition inside the room, but also demonstrates the emotional state of both the reporter and editor. It is depress and stressful.

The downfunnelled light is casting the reporter as a dramatic subject in this scene, creating the illusion of him as a dominating figure, a chillingly severe face hidden in shadows.

The description of harsh lights and shadows reminds me of films noir, perhaps referencing the possible mysterious and dark nature of the reporter.

The impact showcases a pivotal moment of highlighting an emotional scene. Imagery is used heavily with several adjectives and descriptive materials. The reporter appears to be defeated with a somber setting without feeling any semblance of optimism.

The “downfunnelled light” is used to help the reader imagine the reporter’s appearance as well as set a certain tone for the next few pages. The light made the reporter look spooky, bigger then he really is, like a zombie or a monster.

I think the words, “downfunnelled light” give reader an image of the scene. That is, a streak of light from the desklamp that pierces through the dusty gloom of the city room.

The “downfunnelled light” sets the scene of the murky work atmosphere in which the reporter is working. The shape of the light illustrates the dwindling amount of time the reporter has, showing their increasing tension and frustration.

“Downfunnelled light” depicts the image of a very narrow, filtered light in the newsroom (which generally back in the day was an enormous room with no windows). Such a light in a windowless room is a representation of journalism itself. It shows that journalism has a certain focus/angle in a dark and grimy area (the world, perhaps).

The impact the downfunnelled light has is how it is shedding light on a subject. The fact that it is downfunnelled means that the light is beaming down from above, illuminating specifically on one thing or one area. The surrounding area will be for the most part dim, showing how irrelevant other factors could be. Also, by focusing it on the reporter it foreshadows what is going to happen to the reporter, in a sense.

Firstly, the “downfunnelled light” paints the image of what the room looks like. Dark, with only a cone of light shooting through. But also it gives us the idea of the dusty gloomy (gloom allegoring to hard to see through) city, and of all places that light (visibility & truth) can shine through it shines on the reporter so it shows his role.

Also, I can see this transforming the scene into one that notes the concentration on the reporter above all else.

The “downfunnelled light” from the scene paints the room as dark, being illuminated by a single light cast above its subjects. It drapes a dramatic shadow on the shapes below it. It sets a serious tone for the journalist, and reflects how he like is a single light trying to illuminate a whole room, being a single journalist trying to uncover an entire story.

The downfunnelled light is in a way showing only one point of view – showing how journalism can be used to show only one viewpoint of a story.

the author makes him look like someone without a lot of energy. Almost resembles a cadaver. I feel this relates to his journalism in a very particular way since it seems that he is pressure to do his job in a more “professional way” while he might want to take a more creative approach. I believe that this would make him do the job with no real intentions or excitement just like a corpse.

The term “corpse-like” let the readers think that the reporter is the type of person who does not have any facial expressions or who can’t feel any emotion. He is being very objective on the fact that he collected and won’t put any personal opinions on the event that he reports.

I think the theme of lifeless description serves to highlight his inefficiency to bring back solid stories, acting like a scarecrow and scaring away live leads.

The corpse-like description allows us to visualize a man without any exciting features. He is fatigued with a pale and mundane expression. It relates to his journalism by the lack of accomplishments in his respective career. His lackadaisical personality seems to be derailing everything surrounding his career.

The reporter is a starving artist, someone who is more devoted to their work then to their appearance and their health. It can also imply that he is stressed and possibly past his prime. He is not very successful, and lives on a small salary, hence his messy wardrobe choices. There is a similarity between the journalist, and his subjects. The reporter is writing about a group of people who can be classified as artists themselves;they travel the world competing in races and performing stunts, don’t care about the money, and as the reporter described “ …not even thinking about the hotel bill over in town or where we are going to eat if we don’t win and how we are going to get to the next meet if the engine meltd and runs backward out of the exhaust pipe.”

The novel’s description shows that the reporter is lethargic because of his workload. This relates to his journalism as stationary, he seems to be in a work-related rut and is searching for a breakthrough story to resurrect himself but also his career.

The reporter is described as such to illustrate his presence at the job. From how the reporter interacts with the other characters, he is quite the opposite. At work, the corpse-like description tells that his creative manner of reporting has been killed by the editor, and all that is left of his creativity is a corpse. The scarecrow reference tells that he is there at work, but not his talents, being that his manner of reporting is shunned and ridiculed by the editor. In other other words, a body without a soul. Now, editors do have the right to reject a reporter’s work, but in this case, the editor is basically demoralizing the reporter’s efforts.

In relation to the reporter’s journalism, there is a contradiction. From the story he discussed with his editor, it showed how personal the reporter likes to get. Surely, no corpse-like figure will report about, “two men, with one wife and child between them.” A story like that life to it.

The description of the reporter as a scarecrow = the reporter is constantly up and searching for a story, maybe he does his job so well he scares the rats off?

And being described corpse-like makes me think hes without life, needing a new story to revitalize the reporter.

The reporter’s description as appearing “corpse-like” suggests that he is seems to be lifeless, searching for energy. This is reflects upon his journalism, he is searching for truth and story like he is searching for life.

Is it supposed to be an allusion to his writing? In that the foundation is there, but the ‘meat’ or ‘heart’ of what the editor wants out of that story isn’t?

The reporter is always on the move, barely able to rest on his quest for the next great story. The editor has relegated him to dull, menial work. The thrill of the literary narrative was his life force and without it, he becomes corpse-like.

Well, this was the time of the Great Depression. So, everything was pretty much darkness and negative thoughts. I feel like by dusty one would say that in this period time, to get the story you had to do some nasty/dirty stuff to get into the characters’mind and get them to talk. We have to remember in this period of time people were working under a hostile environment and government trying to rise the economy.

I agree with Elvis that the gloominess of the newspaper offices reflects the era where everybody was very down because of the economy. The dusty I interpret to mean old and irrelevant, like when something is on a shelf for a long time and collects a lot of dust. In this respect, perhaps Faulkner is commenting on the way journalism was being practiced in the 1930s, and how it was a little outdated.

The words dusty and gloomy here suggest that the way journalism is practiced is nasty and negative. They suggest that the reporters will report any thing that can attract people’s attention regardless of how the people in the story feel or how harmful the story will be to the people.

Dust only covers things that are old and unused, and gloominess is a result of a lack of vibrancy and energy, which show how journalism wasn’t as bustling and alive during this era.

These negative words suggest a period of time that lacks many joyful moments. Dusty can relate to journalism being stale, as writers are either writing repetitive headlines or focusing on the same story without any authenticity. Gloomy is a dark overview about any particular setting or story. As some mentioned above, The Great Depression likely played a pivotal role in this disappointing era of journalism.

Based on adjectives such as “dusty” and “gloomy” it seems like journalism in the 1930’s was dirty, in the sense that reporters went against ethics to get the story. They also suggest that the offices were not well taken care of, similarly to the reporter himself, because the occupation paid very little.

The journalism is practiced in a “dusty” and “gloomy” way due to how it’s frustrating and monotonous. A room full of dust is frustrating and depressing. It’s also difficult to breathe, which can represent how the journalism practiced during that time is deprived of life.

Journalism lives for events, and journalism of certain eras becomes the defining moment of that era, which in this case was The Great Depression, the dark days in America. In such times people looked more to newspapers than before. Journalism shone a light on the dark days by spreading education, they faced the gloominess and when you are so concerned with a subject/event for a stretch of time it becomes of your profession, the dark and gloomy depression became of the profession of journalism.

The connection must be related with ethics. Because if the news are dusty, it means that there is something not clear in its content. And if the news are gloomy, is because it is attacking something or someone focusing in get the public opinion against them, no matter what.

The dusty and gloomy descriptions of newspaper offices could be relating to the the time period, being that it was during the Great Depression. Perhaps, newspaper offices could not employ as much, leaving offices empty and allowing dust to collect.

In terms of how journalism is being practiced, the difficult times could lead to dull stories, being that not much is happening to report on. This could give the impression that journalism is affected by society, rather than journalist’s ability to report and make an impression.

Newspapers offices were unkempt because journalists didn’t care about the aesthetics of where they wrote. It could be argued that their real “workspace” is outside the office, interviewing subjects and being a passive (or in this case, active) observer of the world. It feels “gloomy” because the thrill comes from interacting with people, not sitting behind a desk.

Journalism is a technique to clean up the dust, clear out the gloom.

OR journalism presents us news that is accurate, clear and theres no ancillary information.

This illustration of dusty and gloomy suggests that the journalism practiced is stale and unappealing. It suggests that the writing lacks excitement or newness.

Words like ‘dusty’ and ‘gloomy’ bring to mind the word ‘dirty.’ I think it’s trying to get at how unethical journalists acted during these times and how they were willing to go as far they needed to in order to get a story, ethics be damned.

The phrase “at water to fish” demonstrates the connection between the office and the people in the office. Office is the only place that both the editor and the reporter be alive. It is also the place that traps their lives.

The description sounds like a metaphor for the relationship between a journalist and their story, which is also something they are only allowed to to observe and report on, and no matter how close they get to the story, they aren’t supposed to directly affect it.

There are many references during this paragraph, which relates to an aquarium like setting. “Water at fish” correlates with the reporter’s situation. Also when you look at an aquarium’s structure, it’s very narrow without much breathing room. That is somewhat reminiscent of the reporter and editor, who can’t seem to find a clear solution to deal with this difficult climate. It has started to take over their respective lives.

The editor and reporter are confined in tight, filthy corridors for hours on end which has exhausted and consumed their lives. They are “as water to fish,” which describes the constant spectacle they exist in under the public eye, such a fish is in an exhibition.

An aquarium is a living space for underwater creatures, but it is also a prison. The limited space that they are cramped into, however wide it may seem, is not enough compared to the vast ocean. Both the reporter and editor are imprisoned to their work and they must learn to coexist with one another like sea creatures. “As appropriate as water to fish” also seems to show the necessity of their jobs for their survival.

This correlation can be made due to the field of work that the reporter and editor are in. Journalism to a degree has strict boundaries similar to how an aquarium is secured. The boundaries are the ethics of journalism.

Fish in the ocean can swim freely, but fish in an aquarium are confined. These two characters are also confined. This is especially shown in there dialogue of what constitutes good reporting.

This is easily seen when comparing the reporter and editor to a character like Jiggs, who is living the more carefree, boarder-less life.

What’s interesting is how the reader can make the connection of these two characters to fish based on their occupation, but the reporter sees himself and the editor as human, but the other characters as something else, “because they ain’t human like us” based the other characters’ occupation.

The aquarium is a good analogy for the existence of the editor and reporter. On one hand, an aquarium sustains underwater life, but it also restricts their life to the confines of if its walls. The editor and reporter do this because it is their life, but they are also limited by it.

They’re both physically confided in a small space, but it’s in that small space that they thrive and survive in the world, just an aquarium does for fish.

Well, for one, journalism requires a lot of dedication and labor. Someone that takes the challenge of this profession has to agree to long hours and days. Our reporter might not even have the time to take care of his needs since he needs to be on the job 24/7.

Reporters are often depicted as rumpled and untidy because their job consumes their life. The news itself is so messy that in the reporter’s quest to get the story, they do whatever it takes, forgoing basic hygiene.

The movies want to show how busy the reporters are and how obsess the reporters are about their job which don’t leave any time for them to care about their appearance or personal lives.

In showing reporters as rumpled and untidy, films show their audience the hardworking and nonstop nature of journalists, as if they spend every second they can to chase a story and make deadlines and can’t possibly have time to clean after themselves if their priority is their job.

Reporters are viewed as workhorses that play an essential role in setting up a dramatic story. They can be utilized as peacemakers to clear up an incident or forced into an uncomfortable situation by sharing unfortunate news. The rumpled portrayal comes from their rigorous lifestyle featuring mostly work and minimal pleasure. Untidy can be viewed in a similar manner by their disheveled look and constantly being on the move. Obtaining information about a specific story becomes their biggest priority over simple daily methods such as eating regular meals or dressing properly.

Reporters are shown this way to highlight their high levels of commitment to their work. It can also reference the lack of concern they have for their own well-being because they have been devoured by the daily pressure of meeting deadlines and providing quality work.

Because those are the main characteristics of a reporter. Rumpled because the reporter has the story and he can do whatever he wants with it, of course the audience, readers and public in general will expect the true in the news that is why a reporter must be ethical. In the other hand a reporter is shown as untidy because his work will depend of relevant events of public interest that most of the time do not have any previous schedule.That means that his disponibility must be unlimited.

I believe this is because the life of a journalist is fast-paced. A journalist, for the most part needs to be where the news is happening, to get the most out of a story or to be the first to report about it. Such a demanding life style, prevents a journalist from always being tidy. In addition, the stresses of the job could also lead to rumpled, untidy lifestyle.

Reporters are often illustrated as rumpled and untidy in movies because they are generally thought of as hard-working and determined, leading them to do anything to do the story and losing sleep over it causing them to come off disheveled because they have no time to maintain a high appearance.

I think reporters are often depicted as rumpled and untidy because they’re seen as people in a dirty profession. Who cant hold themselves together because theyre trying to hold the story together.

Reporters are often illustrated as rumpled and untidy to illustrate the obsessive and consuming nature of their work. They become involved in their subjects and in a way, become subject to them. Reporters are under pressure to fulfill their duties.

I think it’s done to show how much reporters really live for the job. They’re always chasing a new story, so much so that they don’t have time to pay attention to their appearance or their personal surroundings. They only pay attention to that of those they report on.