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Jacob Ritteman Cynthia Nichols English 271 12/17/09 A Freudian Look into Roger Waters True Expressions in The Wall According to many critics around, Pink Floyds The Wall is arguably one of the most influential and ground-breaking albums in existence. Roger Waters, one of the more prominent members of Pink Floyd, birthed the concept of this album and also created most of its lyrical and instrumental writing. It may not be the most popular, but as Floyds third chart-topping album in the United States, it spent six months on Billboards top five; fifteen weeks of those six months held the number one spot. Many different explanations can be interpreted from the symbolic meaning of the wall, some of those being a separation between a performer and audience, a wall built up around a person by bitterness and brutality, a psychological barrier between a rock star and the rest of the world, and so on; but a Freudian Psychoanalytic lens would most surely produce a unique translation of this intriguing symbol the wall was created by Roger Waters unconscious thoughts as a defense. I think this a quite valid observation being Ive come to believe its fairly clear Waters mother didnt allow for as good of a relationship as one might suspect after listening to misleading and deceptive songs such as Mother (which is featured in The Wall album). At first glance this song seems to merely be a son casually asking for advice on differing subjects; but a closer shows under the surface hes actually begging his mother to answer those ridiculous questions (such as Mother, should I run for President?, Mother, should I build the wall?, and Mother, should I trust the government?) and pay attention to him, even though he ultimately knows they will be left unanswered. This is a perfect clue at how dysfunctional in reality their relationship actually was. Lois Tyson says (Critical Theory Today p. 18) that patterns in our

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behavior, if we can recognize them, provide clues, especially in the area of interpersonal relationsbecause it is here that our initial unresolved conflicts within the family are reenacted. Based off of Tysons statement here it seems pretty clear that because of the isolation that Waters felt from his mother, he created the wall not because he merly felt like it, but because he unconsciously reenacted the same experienced isolation by shutting himself off from society; this way factors and elements within said society couldnt dig up repressed memories. Waters continuously states throughout this album that the wall is to contain anything affecting him in a negative way. This is bluntly indicated by things he mentions being followed up with just another brick in the wall. The Wall technically has four entire songs dedicated to explaining whats all being put in the wall three of them being Another Brick in the Wall Part 1, 2, and 3. Among some of these bricks are classmates, an allegedly terrible teacher, and memories regarding him as a kid asking his dad (who had died in WWII) what else he had left behind for him other than a snapshot in the family album. I think him tossing the memory of his father into the wall is a form of denial by pretending the potential problem is non-existant and tossing it in with everything else so its not marked as important. In regards to the allegedly terrible teacher, Waters tries to unconsciously displace negative feelings onto him. Displacement, as Tyson defines it, is taking [repressed memories] out on someone or something less threatening than the person who caused our fear, hurt, frustration, or anger. This teacher is constantly shown in bad light and is depicted as someone who is always trying to exploit a students weakness in front of everyone else present. This displacement is even furthered continued in Waters fantasizing about how this teacher is nagged and brought down in his own home by the one person he has in life; his wife. I think Waters

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unconsciously did this to cover his displacing tracks by implying the teacher was terrible to the kids in order to relinquish stress and hurt from his (the teachers) own home life. Another disorder that seems to be troubling Waters throughout the album is one that would deal with his tripartite pysche (Nichols). At some points it appears hes having trouble controlling animalistic instincts (the id) and the result is sporadic outbursts and mood changes; not only does his voice spontaneously shift octaves and decibels, but also his music follows suit as well. At the point in the album where Waters is about to retreat behind the wall, a song called Goodbye Cruel World plays. The lyrics seem to indicate that hes going into a regression, which, according to Tyson is the temporary return to a former psychological state. This is implied because the lyrics seem quite childish (although clever as usual) with a repeating verse of Goodbye cruel world, Im leaving, and Goodbye, all you people. Theres nothing you can say, to make me change my mind. Its almost like a childish way to ask for someones help or at least for their attention. This is why I feel its quite possible he entered a regression at this point. Another song backing this theory up immediately follows, Hey You. Some of the lyrics include Hey you can you help me, Hey youcan you touch me?, and can you feel me? These are all indications that he truly doesnt want the isolation, just as he didnt when he was a kid. A lyrical quote reinforcing this idea that hes regretting his chosen isolation is, Together we stand, divided we fall; here he is admitting he cant get along on his own, and he needs other people to survive.

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This brings us to the climaxing track, The Trial. Its a very artsy and over-the-top courtroom scene featuring his neglecting mom, cheating wife, allegedly terrible teacher, and a judge referred to as Worm. In this trial, looking past the straight-forward characteristics of each person portrayed, one can conclude that its actually Waters fantasy. The lyrics show these people being opposites of what they were in reality. For starters, we have the mom saying things such as, Come to your mother baby, let me hold you in my arms, which is quite the contrary to what I believe she was actually like. The wife is displayed as her being hurt by him (You shouldve talked to me more often than you did) as opposed to him being hurt by her cheating. The teacher is once again shown here as being terrible (If theyd let me have my way I couldve flayed him into shape.), and the judge evaluating him is referred to as a worm. Waters, or Pink as hes called in the movie, lyrics involve a childish, innocently high voice blaming himself for his actions by being crazy (an attempt at being humble and noble). The lyrics further this idea by having a prosecutor stating, Good morning, Worm, your honor. Let the crown show the prisoner who now stands before you was caught red-handed showing feelings of an almost human nature; this will not do. According to the MerriamWebster dictionary, crown can be defined as a reward of victory or mark of honor which is Waters delegating himself as honorary right off the bat, and that he barely did anything wrong. This quote also shows, in Waters mind, how crazed the prosecution is by prosecuting him on grounds of showing feelings of an almost human nature. All in all, I think the trial was set up as an excuse to TEAR DOWN THE WALL!! which is the verdict. As him being noble and humble (as declared by himself), and apparently quite innocent, he doesnt want to admit he messed up in order to keep his dignity therefore he could not tear down the wall himself; he instead staged a trial to have a judge order it so hed

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have no other choice. Reinforcing this is the fact that two songs prior to The Trial is a song called Waiting for the Worms. In this particular song he says hes waiting for these Worms so he can follow them (note that the judge is referred to as the Worm). I truly think that after eleven produced albums, Waters unconsciously realized that through his creative works and face time with fans/society, he was getting close to revealing repressed memories. Because of this, he unconsciously created the wall which inspired their twelfth album. This album was almost solely written by Waters, so its main character, labeled Pink in the movie, is most like him. Once he built the wall and was ready to move behind it into complete isolation, he went into a regression most definitely with his childhood psychological state, which made him realize everything in which had gone wrong in his life and how it was affecting him. From here, he realized hed dealt with those arisen memories and thought he should tear down the wall, so he staged the trial to do so. I think its fairly safe to say his childhood pain derived from only having a seemingly neglectful mother as a parent figure (as his dad died in the war), while his adult pain came from his wife. This theory may greatly come into conflict with others, and one must remember that with any subject, countless conflicting theories will be produced from the numberless amount of critical lenses. A load of Waters personal problems can be found by analyzing different areas of the albums tracks, and Im sure there are many more to be discovered.