Reflection On Pink Floyd's "The Wall"

This reflects upon both the album The Wall and its movie adaptation. Both have equal artistic merit and both are respectable in their own manner. This blog is just another brick in the wall.

The Wall, perhaps the greatest metaphor for how big of an ego Roger Waters had.

Roger Waters used a LOT of imagery and symbolism to convey his artistic vision in The Wall. The wall itself is a metaphor for social isolation. There are several characters that represent the things that help him build his "wall". His mother represents the overbearing love that smothers her child, his lost girlfriend represents the cold sting of love that leaves an emotional wound, and his teacher represents the imposing rule of conformity that shoves itself unto the protagonist. Imagery can be found throughout the album and the movie as well. "The Thin Ice" uses ice imagery, which calls to mind cold, inhospitable places.

The wall is the biggest symbol in the whole piece of work. It encompasses all of the things that make him recess into the solitude of his mind until he becomes 'comfortably numb'. The wall is a symbol that has been used throughout history and culture to represent a barrier between one from another. Usually, it is because someone does not want to be in the same company as the other. The wall's purpose here is not that different. The protagonist wants to be isolated from the outside world because it is harming him. Thus, every act that brings him down helps him build his wall.

The things that help him build it are things that bring him harm. His mother's smothering love does not let him breathe. He wants to escape her grasp because she is imposing all of her thoughts and beliefs unto him. His teacher tries to impose the system of conformity and mind control unto the protagonist, as seen in "Another Brick In The Wall Pt.2". Putting him in line is the teacher's main objective, no matter what cost. The ultimate thing that harms him is his breakup with his girlfriend because it leaves him emotionally hurt. It emphasizes the isolation he feels from the world because he believes that no one can really feel his suffering. All of these things contribute to his isolation from the outside world with the wall.

"The Thin Ice" uses imagery of ice, which conveys the sense of isolation that the protagonist feels with the outside world. Usually, the image of ice brings to mind the cold, desolate plains in the Himalayas or the arctic. These places are pretty inhospitable and people don't generally like to live there. This leaves the places being very empty and barren by people usually. Such does the protagonist feel in connection with the outside world. He feels like he has found himself in a place in which no one wants to be around him and he has been left feeling 'comfortably numb'.

The Wall uses a lot of symbolism and imagery in order to convey the character's descent into social isolation. I think it is an incredibly creative piece of work that expresses how people feel sometimes when they become socially isolated due to problems of life. Roger Waters was a genius... and an egotistical genius, too.