Brick

[bartholomew]

Hi

Could you say what a brick in the wall is?

Can you give 2 examples so as to illustrate the meaning?

Ta

[caz21]

Do you mean like the song? as in -- Just another brick in the wall?

I always thought it meant being same as everyone else, all bricks being identical etc.

[:Ace:]

Just another average human being amongst the general public, theres one. It sort of means that we don't stand out, much like a brick in the wall.

[Quizmonster]

The purpose of a wall is to divide/separate. I always thought that - if you accused someone of being "just another brick in the wall" - you meant he/she was simply something that alienated you from something desirable.
Surely that was what was meant by the line in the song..."Teacher, leave those kids alone!" In other words, far from helping young people to relate to the world around them, teachers were just making it harder for them to do so.
A brick in the wall is an obstacle.

[waimarie]

The again, a brick in the wall is an essential part of the whole. So, the phrase could mean, part of a team?

[Azimov]

I always felt the meaning was like being just a faceless, nameless nobody making up the whole.

Without the bricks the wall couldn't exist, but no individual brick is any more special or important than any other.
To be "Just another brick in the wall" is to be "Just another face in the crowd" or "just another cog in the machine".

I had never thought of the "wall" as having any real significance in the analogy before now.

[kdrlly]

In regards to Pink Floyd each brick represents an emotion or memory. All these bricks or memories go together to create a wall of protection that the person can hide behind.

[PhilBy]

I always thought of it as a song about how the youth were not being educated to be free thinking individuals and that the reference to the wall was being used as a symbol of society in general. I thought they were trying to say that education was/is being used to a strict formula to produce yet another brick for the wall .... ie. What ever society requires, be it Teacher, Doctor, factory worker or what ever...... basically all just another brick in the wall.

[Jeepersca]

It is being part of the problem, not the solution. Another brick in the wall is similar in "straw that broke the camel's back," in that, while something might not be the sum of it's parts (one brick is not a wall, one piece of straw is not enough to break the camel's back), the summation of those things is enough.

Examples: Your boss is not the only one keeping you from being able to move up in the company, there is competition from your co-workers, too. But your boss is just another brick in the wall. (meaning adding to the problem)

I don't think my husband and I agree on anything anymore. We just don't seem to communicate. And every time we fight about some stupid thing, it's just another brick in the wall. (meaning, making it worse).

Julie's new boyfriend keeps putting his foot in his mouth, I think she's going to break up with him. Just yesterday, he made a comment about her mother. It wasn't a big deal, but it's another brick in the wall. (as though a problem is building up, one brick at a time).