"Another Brick in the Wall" Textual Analysis

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Pink Floyd’s “Another brick in the wall part 2“ begins with a young boy in a tunnel entrance placing a bullet on the track as the locomotive is fast approaching. The boy jumps against the tunnel wall. As the train passes, he catches a glimpse of hands reaching from the train car. The train car was reminiscent of a cattle car going to slaughter. Attention shifts to a lone student adrift in his own thoughts who is singled out for not paying attention in class. The teacher bullies him and attempts to embarrass him in front of the class. The next scene represents the students marching mindlessly into a tunnel where they emerge as a faceless entity. The now faceless homogenized mass of students is chastised for not conforming. The students are marching like lemmings to their demise and ultimately falling into a meat grinder. In the next scene they reclaim their individuality and begin to revolt against the oppressive bonds by knocking down the wall. As the school burns down the teacher is overpowered by the students. The boy then wakes up from the dream . Pink Floyd’s lyrics “All in all you’re just another brick in the wall” is a metaphor for conforming. It conveys the point that as a conforming society, we are just another face in the crowd devoid of individual thoughts. The stance that “We don’t need no education” is of interest because at first glance one would think that Pink Floyd’s meaning is that of an anti-education standpoint, but upon further look and breaking it down “ We don’t need no education” is a double negative. Pink Floyd is really saying that we do need an education just perhaps a reformed education system that allows for students to truly grow intellectually rather than simply repeating what is fed to them by the tyrannical teachers. Eating you meat before your pudding is a metaphor that is stating that you can’t enjoy the nice things

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