Revista de Lenguas Modernas, N.° 26, 2017 / 367-386 / ISSN: 1659-1933

The Teacher, The Doctor, and The Judge: Power and Authorities in Pink Floyd’s The Wall

David Boza Méndez Escuela de Lenguas Modernas

Abstract The following investigation focuses on power relations in Pink Floyd’s The Wall. Specifically, this article centers on the images of authorities on the album: the teacher, the physician, and the judge. The literary analysis of these characters supported by notions developed by theorists on the subject of power leads to significant conclusions on the matter.

Key words: power, authorities, Pink Floyd, The Wall

Resumen La siguiente investigación tiene por objetivo analizar las relaciones de poder en The Wall de Pink Floyd. El presente artículo se centra en las imágenes de autoridad en el álbum: el profesor, el médico y el juez. El análisis literario de estos personajes con base en preceptos críticos desarrollados por varios especialistas en el campo de la teoría del poder llevará a conclusiones significativas.

Palabras claves: poder, autoridades, Pink Floyd, The Wall

Recepción: 16-06-16 Aceptación: 12-12-16 368 Revista de Lenguas Modernas, N.° 26, 2017 / 367-386 / ISSN: 1659-1933

he Wall by Pink Floyd rep- article makes reference to the works resents one of the most sig- of Michael Foucault, Louis Althusser, T nificant products of rock John Galbraith, and Bertrand Russell, history, pop culture, and music of the among others. Furthermore, the text twentieth century. Its verses depict analyzed in this investigation is the the story of a subject who builds up printed lyrics of the The Wall from a figurative wall. This wall isolates booklet of the CD format. him from the rest of individuals, so The album has several songs which the feeling of loneliness, despair, and deal with these authorities. Authority dehumanization is vast. In this sense, songs make a group of five pieces. Two the work of Pink Floyd represents a pieces are related to education and the window to the human soul and to the teacher: “The Happiest Days of Our core of its nature through the eyes of Lives” and “Another Brick in the Wall an isolated subject. It portrays exis- Part II.” Two more songs deal with the tential issues such as life, death, and doctor: “Another Brick in the Wall Part sanity; socio-political matters as war, III” and “Comfortably Numb.” And order, and wealth, and the repercus- one song shows the figure of the judge sions these have in modern life. It also and the law he represents, “The Trial.” exposes the consequences of living in These songs evidence the discursive a society and the repercussions these formation behind the attitude of each conditions have in the subject as well authority and the way in which this as the consequences of power playing discourse influences the subject, mostly a significant role as the glue and lubri- in a detrimental way. cant of social relations. The universe of The Wall mimics real life in the sense that there are power positions The Teacher in every type of relation. Moreover, this text serves as a catalog of the dif- The Wall, as the epic journey from ferent types of power relations, being childhood to maturity, focuses on the relations with authorities one of the image of the teacher as one of the key highlights. The text focuses on three influences in the early years of the main authorities: the teacher, the phy- subject. Nevertheless, this influence sician, and the judge; and on how the does not seem to be a positive one. interaction with these represses the Actually, when the speaker refers to subject. The analysis of these three the whole educational systems, he characters will point out significant sounds rather bitter and resentful. The notions in relation to power, to the clearest example is seen in the first two apparatuses they represent, and to the verses of “Another Brick in the Wall impact these have on the subject. Part II” that read: “we don’t need no For the analysis of these authority education / we don’t need no thought figures and the text, it is important control” (1-2). The lines are harsh and to mention that significant authors aggressive. Education equals thought whose work is devoted to examining control and the subject claims that we the notion of power were taken into do not need it. It seems that education consideration. In this sense, this is no longer a means to achieve mental BOZA. The Teacher, The Doctor and The Judge... 369 and moral emancipation but an Likewise, David Johnston believes oppressive system whose only purpose that: is to keep individuals under control so that they obey the rules of society. In Overworked and unconcerned relation to this, the French philosopher educators may treat their students Louis Althusser affirms that: as mere objects filling seats, which will be filled by an entirely new Children at school learn the ‘rules’ of batch of its next year. Administrators good behaviour, i.e. the attitude that facing community pressure are often should be observed by every agent in concerned merely with the graduation the division of labour, according to the and placement of school’s degree job he is ‘destined’ for: rules of morality, products. The lessons themselves are civic and professional conscience, often designed not to liberate student’s which actually means rules of respect minds but to prepare them to be cogs for the socio-economical division of in the social machinery. (Pink Floyd labour and ultimately the rules of other and Philosophy 129) established by class domination. (132) Johnston shares Althusser’s notion Although Althusser seems to focus that teachers may be seen as mere tools on material production in relation to whose intention is to make students capitalist notions, he points out some functional within the system in order significant traits of the nature of the to fulfill a productive purpose. The education apparatus. He believes album does not hold specific references that education is used to implant to the hegemonic groups; however, “the rules of morality” and “civic and it is the mechanisms of power in the professional conscience” in order to educational apparatus, the way in make individuals respect the “rules of which power fluctuates within it, and socio-economical division of labor and the way in which the teacher exercises the rules of the established order.” In it that we are going to focus on. other words, education has one main The figure of the teacher in purpose: to reproduce the established the album is deconstructed in the social order by implanting rules of sense that his figure challenges the proper behavior in the mind of subjects, traditional image of the educator. He the rules related to moral, civic, and is not caring towards his pupils and he professional ideals. What Althusser is certainly does not embody knowledge; trying to make clear is that education this representation is characterized equals thought control, the same issue by violence. For example, the speaker that Floyd tries to convey in “Another states in “The Happiest Days of our Brick in the Wall Part II.” It seems that Lives”: education works as a means to spread and implant ideological ideas of the When we grew up and went to school hegemonic groups; these have the only There were certain teachers who would purpose of reproducing the structure of Hurt the children anyway they could society, in which they are at the top. By pouring their derision Upon anything we did 370 Revista de Lenguas Modernas, N.° 26, 2017 / 367-386 / ISSN: 1659-1933

Exposing every weakness students, who are too busy protecting However carefully hidden by the kids themselves from teachers. In this (1-7). sense, Denise Winterman affirms that the line “we don’t need no education” These verses evidence the violent from “Another Brick in the Wall Part nature of the teacher(s); the behaviors 2” was “inspired by [Roger Water´s] they have towards their students own schooling in the 1950s. It was a are fairly shocking and demonstrate protest against the strict regime that the way they challenge the image he felt had tried to suppress children, of the “good teacher.” Teachers in rather than inspire them” (“Just The Wall “would hurt” the children Another Brick in the Wall?”). But not anyway they could and they “would only that, Denise also tells the story pour their derision” upon children. of the group of children that sang the The verb “hurt” clearly shows their famous choir of this song who attended violent personality. The speaker even a school down the block from the affirms that the teachers would hurt recording studio. Denise states that the the children “anyway they could.” It teacher (an unconventional teacher) seems that the purpose of teachers in and the children were discriminated The Wall is not to teach but to torment by the institution after the authorities students. It is as if they are in the found out what the song was about. class to pay attention to students to The teacher moved to Australia after see in which way they can attack or feeling disillusioned with the British offend them. How? By mocking them, education system; he even declared by pouring their derision on them. The that “one could see and feel the clouds teacher’s authority and power is based of conservatism heading towards the on the humiliation of the weak, of the school system at the time” (ibid). powerless, of the students. Teachers In terms of the context when writing are more “bullies” (to use an “in” word) the album, Waters may have the influence than figures of knowledge or wisdom, of the many social revolutions and and students may think that, if they do manifestations all around the world at the not speak or move or call the attention, end of the 60s in places such as Mexico, they will not be attacked or humiliated USA, France, Poland, Czechoslovakia, by the teacher in the classroom. and Yugoslavia (to name a few). These Students are also not willing to learn; revolutions were supported by significant all their energy inside the class goes amounts of high education students to protecting themselves. The speaker who were opposing political choices and affirms that teachers hurt students social problems (Hobsbawm 298). In this by exposing the children’s weakness sense, “we don’t need no education / we which children “carefully hide.” So, don’t need no thought control” is not only where is education? Is there any trace a scream against a specific institutions of conventional education (teachers but against the whole social order and its teaching and students learning)? “thought control.” We, in these verses, are No, there does not seem to be any. students opposing and yelling, getting Education in the album is a cruel game together in order to manifest a collective between teachers, who hold power, and discomfort. BOZA. The Teacher, The Doctor and The Judge... 371

Returning to our object of study, goodness” is violence as a way to correct the education apparatus, as embodied (to “flay into shape”) and as a form of by the teacher, uses hurting and public punishment. In terms of violence and humiliation as a means to exercise power, John Galbraith establishes that power and to make students part of there is a type of power associated to its game, by that, subduing them as this relationship: the powerless of the power relation. In addition, the teacher’s heartless Condign power wins submission by attitude makes him an “anti-teacher.” the ability to impose an alternati- The song “The Trial” evidences another ve to the preferences of the indi- characteristic of this “anti-teacher.” vidual or group that is sufficiently In this song, the teacher gets the unpleasant or painful so that these opportunity to speak and establishes: preferences are abandoned, there is an overtone of punishment in the I always said he’d come to no good term, and this conveys the appro- In the end your honor priate impression. (Power 213) If they’d let me have my way I could Have flayed him into shape. (8-11) Galbraith believes that condign power is an imposition characterized by The first verse demonstrates the pain through punishment or physical lack of faith that the teacher has correction; this is the case of the Teacher towards his students. The teacher does in the album because if he’d have his not believe in education because he way, he would have flayed the subject does not believe in students, one of the into shape; he would have imposed two main components of the education by means of physical punishment or system. For the teacher, the subject correction his ideals of proper behavior as a student is no good, that is, he is and morality in order to fix the subject. bad. In which sense? Perhaps, in every Is this education? No, students will only sense since “The Trial” constitutes learn the basic dos and don’ts, the basis a metaphorical trial to show the of thought control, no enlightenment, subject’s failure in human relations no self-improvement, nor anything. and in social responsibilities, basically The teacher in The Wall represents in every field in life. Therefore, when an authority that does not care for the the teacher claims that the subject proper education of his pupils. On the has come to no good, he is establishing contrary, he is a person whose only his lack of faith in the subject. And purpose seems to punish, humiliate, what is the possible solution for this, and to oppress students. He is not the according to the educator? Violence: traditional figure of the educator but an “If they’d let me have my way I could / anti-teacher that creates a dictatorship- Have flayed him into shape” (10-11). In like environment in the classroom. the attitude of the teacher, there is no The case of the teacher evidences trace of comprehension or empathy for another significant trait of power: its the student; there is no wish to teach, fluctuating nature. For the purpose of to enlighten the student. The reaction this investigation, fluctuation denotes of the teacher against the student’s “no the ability, in this case, of power of not 372 Revista de Lenguas Modernas, N.° 26, 2017 / 367-386 / ISSN: 1659-1933 being held just by one individual, as individuals who are empowered and Foucault would put it in Psychiatric at the same time are subjected to it, Power, by a sovereign. The fluctuating which is the case of the teacher in The nature of power implies that power Wall. moves through all the different pieces In “The Happiest Days of Our of the social machinery. Everyone can Lives,” the speaker, after exposing the exercise power, and everyone can be sadistic personality of teachers when subjected to power. However, no one treating students, affirms: has the ability to hold it permanently. Foucault explores the subject deeply in But in the town it was well known Power/Knowledge: When they got home at night, their fat and (…) power is not to be taken to be Psychopathic wives would thrash them a phenomenon of one individual’s Within inches of their lives. (8-11) consolidated and homogenious domination over others, or that of These verses demonstrate another one group or class over others. What, facet of the teacher, the one of the by contrast, should always be kept in husband. They give the impression mind is that power, if we do not take that his marriage is not a pleasing too distant a view of it, is not that which one. In fact, his wife is qualified as makes the difference between those “psychopathic,” and the reason for who exclusively possess and retain this relies on the fact that she makes it, and those who do not have it and his life miserable. But her attitude submit to it. Power must be analysed as towards him also exemplifies the way something which circulates, or rather in which power fluctuates within as something which only functions society. First, the teacher ends up not in the form of a chain (…) Power is being the personification of power. employed and exercised through a He is just powerful when he is in the net-like organisation. And not only class. Second, he holds power within do individuals circulate between the four walls of the classroom, not its threads; they are always in the in other places, such as within his position of undergoing and exercising house. On the contrary, when he is a this power. (98) husband, he is subdued by his wife, and her power is exactly as his, that The author considers that power is, condign power. His role is inverted; fluctuates within the social structure; he no longer humiliates, punishes, or therefore, it is impossible to have a oppresses. Now, he is the one being sovereign-like figure who represents humiliated, punished, and oppressed the source of power and who exercises it by the condign power of his wife. over the rest of individuals. But it also Whether or not Roger Waters seems that power does not circulate alludes to hegemonic groups and the between individuals, but individuals implantation of ideology through circulate between the joints and education in The Wall is up to each positions that power creates in society. person’s interpretation. Some readers Furthermore, there would be cases of believe that ¨we don’t need no education BOZA. The Teacher, The Doctor and The Judge... 373

/ we don’t need no thought¨ in “Another to the medical apparatus in the song. Brick on the Wall Part II” does refer However, as it will be stated below, to hegemonic groups; others consider this verse has a vital function in that these isolated lines are not enough the explanation of the effects of this evidence to state this. However, the apparatus in the subject. teacher, and the educational apparatus Bertrand Russell affirms that the that Waters presents in the album power of the doctor comes from learning: really exemplify significant notions related to power. One of them is the way A very different type of character it functions inside the class, condign comes to the fore where power is power. The violent, fascist-like attitude achieved through learning or wisdom, of the teacher demonstrates this. The real or supposed (…) When I say other is the way power fluctuates ‘learning’ I include, of course, reputed through the social threads. The way the learning, such as that of magicians teacher is bullied by his wife denotes and medicine men. Twenty years of the way in which power is not held study are required in order to obtain by a single individual and the way in a Doctor’s Degree at the university of which individuals can exercise and be Lhasa. (Power 24) subjected to power at the same time. The power of the doctor as an authority figure comes from the wisdom The Doctor that learning and studying imply, from the sacrifices that this character Another significant figure of has to go through in order to achieve authority in The Wall corresponds to knowledge, and from the mysticism the doctor. The doctor embodies the that this knowledge will give him/her. medical apparatus, another social Russell continues: “to gain a reputation ideological apparatus which has a for wisdom a man must seem to have a notable influence on subjects. Although store of recondite knowledge, a mastery the doctor does not constitute a vital over his passions, and a long experience character in the album, as he has of the ways of men” (ibid). Now, is this represented in the last three hundred knowledge present in The Wall? Explicitly years in society, this figure illustrates no, but once one starts working with the some traits connected to power in the text, one finds out that the wisdom of the text.1 As a matter of fact, the album doctor does exist in the album. As stated includes only two songs which make above, the song “Comfortably Numb” reference to the medical apparatus. shows how the doctor helps the subject to The first song, “Comfortably Numb,” overcome what seems to be a mental or portrays the subject after some sort physical discomfort: of mental or physical breakdown, and he is being helped to overcome this Hello, episode by the doctor. The second song Is there anybody in there is “Another Brick in the Wall Part III” Just nod if you can hear me whose “I don’t need no drugs to calm Is there anybody home me” (2) represents the only reference Come on now 374 Revista de Lenguas Modernas, N.° 26, 2017 / 367-386 / ISSN: 1659-1933

I hear you’re feeling down over the body of the subject. His knowl- Well I can ease your pain edge gives him the right to manipulate Get you on your feet again the body of the powerless. When treat- Relax ing the subject in “Comfortably Numb,” I’ll need some information first the doctor utters: Just the basic facts Can you show me where it hurts. (1-12) O.K. Just a little pinprick The doctor is such a learned man in There’ll be no more aaaaaaaah! (23-25) the sense that he shows confidence in his abilities. He “can ease” the pain of These verses convey the image of the subject, so he can get him on his feet the doctor preparing an injection (O.K. again. The modal auxiliar “can” implies / Just a little pinprick), and proceeding that it is fairly possible, almost certain to use it on the subject in order to calm that he can cure the subject, without the “aaaaaaaahs” (the pain or the even asking the patient for information symptoms of the disease). Moreover, the in order to identify the problem first, verses also evidence the way in which before asking “can you show me where the doctor, without asking the subject, it hurts,” an attitude connected to ar- injects him with a drug that the latter rogance, the arrogance of a person that does not know. In other words, the is sure of his knowledge, in this case, of physician, by means of knowledge, has medicine. In this sense, Foucault states control and influence over the body of that one of the main tactics of doctors the subject and administers a drug for (psychiatrists) to treat a patient cor- the sake of the patient’s health. In this responds to demonstrating an inequal- sense, Bertrand Russell establishes ity of power: “there is the maneuver of that power can be classified on the creating an imbalance of power, that is kind of influence that the powerful to say, right from the start or, anyway, can have over the powerless, and one as quickly as possible, making power of these stands for the direct physical flow in one and only one direction, that power over the body. The author gives is to say, from the doctor” (Psychiatric the examples of imprisonment and of Power 146). Why? This author contin- killing, which are clear forms of having ues and affirms: “Its first objective is to physical power over the body (Power establish a sort of state of docility that 19). However, the way in which the is necessary for the treatment: the pa- doctor has influence and manipulates tient, in fact, must accept the doctor’s the body of the subject in the album prescriptions” (Psychiatric Power 147). represents another type of power Creating an imbalance of power on the Russell is referring to. side of the doctor has represented part A remarkable trait of the doctor in of the procedures for treating patients relation to power is his indifference. in western society. Docility from the For the purpose of this investigation, patient is equal to the cure. indifference refers to the coldness the Now, the important issue in relation doctor demonstrates in his behavior to the doctor and his power is that, due when treating his patients, in this to his wisdom, the doctor has control case, the subject of the text. As stated BOZA. The Teacher, The Doctor and The Judge... 375 above, “Comfortably Numb” has two musician) and that the patient does stanzas which stand for the speech what he is supposed to do. The doctor of the doctor. These stanzas show his is part of the game of power in society. indifference and coldness: He fixes the subject so that the latter fulfills his social responsibilities. The Hello, physician does not cure for sake of the patient’s health; he cures so that Is there anybody in there the patient is able to fulfill his social Just nod if you can hear me purpose. In this sense, the doctor is not Is there anybody at home humanitarian; actually, he embodies Come on now the utilitarian values of culture: you I hear you’re feeling down have to be healthy so that you can Well I can ease your pain produce. Foucault is rather clear when Get you on your feet again dealing with this idea: Relax I’ll need some information first … the techniques of power are invented Just the basic facts to meet the demands of production... Can you show me where it hurts I happen to be dealing with people (…) situated outside the circuits of O.K. productive labour: the insane, prisoners, Just a little pinprick and now children. For them labour, There’ll be no more aaaaaaaah! insofar as they have to perform it, has But you may feel a little sick a value which is chiefly disciplinary. Can you stand up? (Power/Knowledge 161) I do believe it’s working, good That’ll keep you going through the If the subject is healthy, he is able show to produce. If he is able to produce, Come on it’s time to go.2 (1-12, 23-30) according to Foucault, he functions within the system and he properly The stanzas demonstrate the subdues to power. The physician way the doctor works, which is quite represents the first phase: he makes sure dehumanizing. He identifies the the subject is healthy (in order for him problem, treats it, and then he says to perform the show and, consequently, “ok its time to go, you are ready to subdue to the will of power). work.” This last attitude evidences his The album shows another case indifference because he does not care related to the submission to power about the fact that the subject just and the role of the doctor. In the had an appalling mental or physical song “Another Brick in the Wall III” breakdown and that he (the subject) the speaker affirms: “I don’t need no must rest after one of these episodes, drugs to calm me” as a way to show his as anyone should. The doctor does not abhorrence to medicine and control. really care for the patient’s health. The rest of the lyrics demonstrate the He just wants to get him (the patient) subject’s disgust with other fields in on his knees so that he will be able his life: to perform the show (the subject is a 376 Revista de Lenguas Modernas, N.° 26, 2017 / 367-386 / ISSN: 1659-1933

I don’t need no arms around me applied to patient’s residency in the I don’t need no drugs to calm me hospital. He was denied food and the I have seen the writing on the wall only way to get some was in exchange Don’t think I need anything at all of coins he would earn by working in No don’t think I need anything at all the garden (Psychiatic Power 153). All in All it was all just bricks in the wall This author affirms that the real cure All in All you were all just bricks in the comes from the implantation of needs wall. (1-7) and the submission of the patient to reality and its rules: The lyrics are fairly bitter; the whole song evidences the subject’s (…) the reality of an external world, repulsion and hatred. He needs no which previously the omnipotence of people around him, no drugs to calm madness was inclined to deny, takes him, nor anything else. Now, the shape through the asylum lack, and subject’s behavior presents a problem this reality beyond the asylum’s in terms of his relation to society walls is increasingly imposed as and power. The subject states “don’t being inaccessible, but as inaccessible think I need anything at all”; he is in only during the time of madness. a position where he does not require (Psychiatric Power 155) anything. He will not compromise his freedom, himself, or his time in Now, is this the case of the subject exchange for something he may need. in the album? No, power in his account But most importantly, he will not is more aggressive. In the shape of subject himself to power in exchange the doctor, power waits for the subject of any considerable good; he is in to experience a mental or physical an ideal position where he does not breakdown in “Comfortably Numb” need anything or anybody. The social and administers the medicine that problem relies on the fact that if he subdues the subject into this game does not need anything or anybody, he of needs. From there on, the subject is outside the social regulations and the will need the medicine to calm these glue that sticks society together: power. episodes or breakdowns; therefore, he In this regard, Foucault tells the story would have to do what it takes (that of a psychiatric patient who did not is to work, to perform shows, and to want to work in the vegetable garden depend on others) to get his medicine. in the asylum he was confined. As a The doctor crushes the subject’s motto matter of fact, working in the garden “don’t think I need anything at all,” was considered therapy. However, the does not ask if he would like to be patient said working was unnecessary treated with that specific drug, and since money was it too. He was given reinserts him into the game of power everything in seclusion (Psychiatric and needs of the social system. Power 152). He was in the exact same The doctor constitutes a figure position as the subject in The Wall, of power whose role in the album is where they do not need anybody or not quite vital as the mother or the anything. The doctors in the asylum father; however, he exemplifies some decided to implement a system of needs vital notions that describe the nature BOZA. The Teacher, The Doctor and The Judge... 377 of power and of authorities within the “The Trial,” the song that tells the album. First, he embodies the learned encounter between the subject and the man, a person whose power comes from judge, portrays the moment when the the knowledge he has acquired through subject is going through a trial to be education. And he demonstrates this in proven guilty although his crime or the way he treats the patient and the fault is never revealed. On one hand, confidence he has when speaking to the subject calls himself crazy; he the latter. This confidence also works seems to recognize this as his fault. On as a means to establish his power over the other hand, the judge blames him the subject. Second, the doctor, as a of making his wife and mother suffer. figure of power, is dehumanizing and In this sense, the song also depicts the utilitarian. The song “Comfortably subject’s mother, wife, and teacher, Numb” demonstrates that the as witnesses in the legal process; all physician only wants to cure the of them testify against him. Another subject so that he can fulfill his position rather interesting character present in in society, that is, to perform the show. the song is what seems to be the district Finally, he evidences the way in which attorney, speaking at the beginning of society makes individuals carry out the song and introducing the subject as the tasks that have been assigned to the defendant in the prosecution.3 This them; by this, authority figures like character utters a different version of the physician introduce them in the the subject’s sins and crime: social game of needs and subjugation to power. As established, although the The prisoner who now stands before physician seems harmless, he actually you represents a Machiavellian figure Was caught red-handed showing whose purpose is to drug and subdue feelings the subject and to introduce him in the Showing feelings of an almost human power system that organizes society. nature This will not do. (3-6)

The Judge The song is a polyphonic poem which portrays six characters in a rather The last authority figure that credible way and shows how, at the end of personifies power in The Wall is the the song, the figure of the judge appears judge. Although this character appears and almost crushes the defendant, a only in the second-to-last song, he plays defendant who never gets a complete a vital role in the resolution of the story. clear reason why he is being prosecuted. In fact, he comes to embody power This part of the article will analyze itself (if we can say that): omnipotent, what the trial is really trying to prove distant, unreachable, all-seeing, all- in terms of the subject’s guilt and judging, and all-influencing. The judge the organization of the trial per se. resembles a god who comes to stand Moreover, it will not only focus on the against the subject’s insolence, for the figure of the judge, but will also take sake of power, order, and justice. into consideration the district attorney and the witnesses in order to create a 378 Revista de Lenguas Modernas, N.° 26, 2017 / 367-386 / ISSN: 1659-1933 broader examination of the concept of of the subject, frustration that ends up the law and of the judicial apparatus manifested as a will to aggress the sub- and how these relate to power and the ject. The last witness in this legal pro- subjugation of the subject in The Wall. cess is the mother who establishes that The first point to clarify in this “M’lud I never wanted him to / get in any analysis of the law and the judicial trouble / why’d he ever have to leave me” apparatus is the way the trial is (30-32). These verses are part of the un- organized. The song begins with the clear testimony of the mother that, nev- sound of a grinding door being opened ertheless, implies the resentment she and, after that, the sound of footsteps feels towards his son for leaving her. Af- and a bell ringing (the bell, as in a ter the three testimonies the judge starts funeral, announcing the impending to speak (actually, he shouts in a fright- insidious act). Then, the music ening way) and pronounces his verdict: emerges from the background and the “I sentence you to be exposed before / soundscape and fits together with the your peers / tear down the wall” (51-53). tempo of the bells.4 After this, the district The trial is organized in a attorney comes and greets the judge, conventional fashion, with the attorney whom he calls “the worm your honor,” presenting the case to the judge followed and proclaims that the defendant, the by the witnesses and, finally, the judge subject has arrived. After the words deliberating. However, this mode of of the attorney, the witnesses come to organization also reveals a rather act, first, the schoolmaster, then, the significant characteristic of power and subject’s wife and his mother. As stated the law. According to Bertrand Russell, above, all of them testify against the law depends on people’s consent and subject. The teacher affirms that he support: “The law is almost powerless “always said he’d come to no good” when when it is not supported by public speaking about the subject and utters sentiment (…) Law, therefore, as an that “if they’d let [him] have [his] way effective force, depends upon public [he] could / have flayed [the subject] opinion and sentiment even more than into shape” (10-11), a fairly aggressive upon the powers of the police” (Power and violent statement from a teacher 21). The notion that Russell points out about his student (the teacher’s violent is exemplified in the story of The Wall nature is a notion that was discussed because in “The Trial” the witnesses previously). In relation to violence, the are not only invited to participate to subject’s wife affirms: share their experience as spectators of a fault, but they are also included You should have talked to me more often to show that people are irritated and Than you did, but no you had to that they support the cause to punish Go your own way. Have you broken any the subject since he has affected the Homes up lately? lives of others with his actions. After Just five minutes Worm your honor the law proves that people back its Him and me alone. (21-26) case, the judge enters and attacks the defendant with “the full penalty of Her words demonstrate her frustra- law.” Furthermore, when the teacher tion in terms of the alleged infidelity and the wife state respectively: “if BOZA. The Teacher, The Doctor and The Judge... 379 they’d let me have my way I could / What Foucault is trying to explain is have flayed him into shape (…) let me that, in a legal process, the significance hammer him today” (10-11,15) and “just of the evidence relies, not on the facts five minutes Worm your honor / him and provided, but on the person presenting me alone” (25-26), they express their these proofs. If an expert presents a discontent, articulated through these piece of evidence, this information will violent and raging statements, and be more substantial than the testimony which validate the law to act against of a non-expert. Why? George Simmel the subject. Moreover, at the end of the believes that an authority corresponds song the listener can perceive that when to a person who has, “in his more the judge utters the verdict “tear down immediate or remote milieu, an the wall” (53), there is the immediate overwhelming weight of his opinions, response of what seems to be a fairly large a faith, or a confidence which have the group of people repeating the decree. character of objectivity” (Power 205). This also demonstrates how the judge In Western society, these persons are is backed by public sentiment to correct considered to have objective judgments, the improper behavior of the defendant. due to their studies, preparation, or This correction is so well received by the wisdom. Therefore, they are alleged public that it causes a frenzy. trustworthy witnesses in legal In terms of the witnesses, they are prosecutions. Foucault affirms that the two members of the subject’s family statements pronounced by experts even and one of his teachers. Now, if the have presumptions of truth (Abnormal purpose of the trial is to prove that the 11). They are true because they come subject has mistreated his wife and from these individuals even though mother or to show that he is mentally the law does not represent their field ill, what is the teacher doing there? of specialization. This is the case of Well, the answer is fascinating since the teacher in The Wall, who is called it points out other remarkable traits of to testify and to give his opinion as the theory of power. It is not by chance evidence in a trial against a former that the teacher is called to testify in student although his field of expertise the subject’s trial due to the fact that does not constitute criminology. So the he is, as stated above, an authority. In teacher exemplifies not only the way in Abnormal, Michel Foucault establishes which, in Western societies, opinions that when dealing with the notion of of authorities have such a significance proof and evidence in a trial: that they are taken as presumptions of truth in other fields of knowledge, but (…) some evidence has in itself an also the way in which the legal system effect of power, a demonstrative represents a game of power and truth in value, greater than other evidence which there would be important people and independently of its own rational arguing against others in a powerless structure (…) Well, it is due to the position, in the position of the accused. status of the subject who presents the What is the consequence of taking evidence. (10) into consideration, what Foucault calls, an expert’s opinion as evidence in a trial? Well, the philosopher states that: 380 Revista de Lenguas Modernas, N.° 26, 2017 / 367-386 / ISSN: 1659-1933

Expert opinion like this recounts a bear the punishment, is precisely these series of what could be called misdeeds irregular forms of conduct that were that do not break the law, or faults put forward as the crime’s cause and that are not illegal. In other words, point of origin and the site at which the aim is to show how the individual it took shape, and which were only already resembles his crime before he its psychological and moral double. has committed it. (Abnormal 19) (Abnormal 17)

For Foucault, expert opinion is Now, it seems that having used in trials to show predisposition individuals who do not have any level to crime. He gives the example of of expertise in law participating in psychiatrists giving “a psychologico- trials jeopardizes objectivity when ethical double of the offense” (Abnormal aiming to distribute justice, even 16) as part of their testimony, which more when one realizes that these means that a psychological profile individuals are asked to participate of criminals is created in order to in such legal processes just because prove mental instability and to trace they have the status of authorities or criminal predisposition. In this sense, personalities. In addition, it seems expert opinion is used to condemn even more incorrect for judges to take defendants not only for their crimes into consideration these subjective but also for their corrupted moral testimonies as valid evidence. Well, and their tendency to corruption. The Foucault believes the same and calls teacher in “The Trail” gives his expert this phenomenon grotesque: “I am opinion: “I always said he’d come to calling ‘grotesque’ the fact that, by no good” (8). His words evidence the virtue of their status, a discourse inclination of the subject to commit or an individual can have effects of crimes. These words would not mean power that their intrinsic qualities the same if they were not uttered by should disqualify them from having” an authority; but he was his teacher. (Abnormal 12). The mere act of having He saw the subject’s performance at the teacher testify and state that the school and reached the conclusion subject has always been predisposed that there was in the pupil’s heart a to err and the judge paying close predisposition to err (even though the attention to this testimony makes this subject’s performance at school does not account grotesque, unnatural for the have anything to do with other fields rules of justice and objectivity because of his life…). Moreover, the testimony something grotesque corresponds of the teacher also supports the notion to something that breaks the rules of the double offence: the subject is of harmony and order, in this case, committing a crime but he was morally the rules of an objective prosecution. corrupted since childhood; the judge Pink Floyd seems to emphasize the will have to condemn the subject for whole grotesque issue by depicting his crime and for his lack of moral: the entire trial as bizarre. The band accomplishes this by the use of musical What the judge will judge and punish, aspects such as circus-like music and the point on which he will bring to the over accentuated way of singing BOZA. The Teacher, The Doctor and The Judge... 381 by Roger Waters, which gives a sense There is a kind of familiar, everyday of a theater performance. The voice obviousness that renders him [the of the teacher is a high-pitched voice individual to be corrected] immediately that implies his anger and frustration recognizable; but he is so familiar that when speaking about the subject while we do not have any definite evidence the voice of the judge corresponds to a that an individual is this character. dreadful scream, which evidences the Consequently, being unable to hostility of this character. All these provide any proof, we can never really elements contribute to create a sense of demonstrate that an individual is charade in the court. Floyd approaches incorrigible. (ibid) the courtroom in a fantastically cynical way in order to show the grotesqueness These theoretical notions help of the legal ritual. the reader/listener conclude that the In terms of the other two witnesses, subject in the The Wall is the individual the mother and the wife, although to be corrected. There is no significant they are not authorities (or at least proof to show the subject’s guilt in “The traditional authorities with university Trial”; in fact, the reader/listener does degrees), they represent another social not even know why the subject is being institution which has a significant role prosecuted (as stated above, the district in this legal process: The family. But attorney blames him for feeling, while before discussing this, it is necessary the judge accuses him for making his to clarify the criminal profile of the wife and mother suffer; at the same subject. In Abnormal, Michel Foucault time, the subject censures himself for explains that there are three types being crazy). Moreover, the witnesses of individuals which break the law: represent two of the institutions where the monster, the individual to be the individual to be corrected emerges: corrected, and the masturbating child. the school in the case of the teacher, The monster constitutes an entity and the family in the case of the wife that transgresses natural laws, such and mother. as Siamese twins, a half-animal-half- Now that it is clear that the subject human creature, a person with two in the album can be considered the heads, etc. The masturbating child individual to be corrected, let’s go back is self-explanatory and corresponds to the issue of having the mother and to the legal reaction of social anxiety the wife as witnesses that represent when dealing with child sexuality.5 the family. The family is present in the In the case of the individual to be subject’s trial as a frame of reference of corrected, Foucault believes that this his condition as a criminal: criminal emerges within “the family and the school, workshop, street, (…) the individual to be corrected quarter, parish, church, police, and so appears to require correction because all on” (Abnormal 57-58). Moreover, the the usual techniques, procedures, and individual to be corrected is so familiar attempts at training within the family and close that it is really difficult to have failed to correct him. What defines define him: the individual to be corrected is that he is incorrigible. (Foucault, Abnormal 58) 382 Revista de Lenguas Modernas, N.° 26, 2017 / 367-386 / ISSN: 1659-1933

The fact that the mother and the Crazy toys in the attic I am crazy6 wife are testifying the sins of the They must have taken my marbles away subject committed within the house- (…) hold constitutes a proof that “all the Crazy over the rainbow I am crazy7 usual techniques, procedures, and at- Bars in the windows tempts at training within the family There must have been a door here in have failed” and now they appeal to the wall the power of the law and of the judge When I came in. (16-17,34-37) to subdue the subject to social regula- tions. On one hand, the wife blames Is he guilty of being insane? him for not talking to her more often Probably. He affirms that he is crazy and, and for being unfaithful: therefore, he has bars in the windows as if he were in prison. The speaker implies You should have talked to me more often a relationship between insanity and Than you did, but no you had to imprisonment, between being insane Go your own way. Have you broken any and being a criminal. When dealing with Homes up lately? (21-24) the concepts of madness and criminality, Foucault establishes: On the other hand, the mother cries “why’d he ever have to leave me” (32) You see delinquents as the residues implying that for the mother leaving of society, colonized peoples as the her home and leaving her are crimes. residues of history, and the mad as the Both testimonies also exemplify the residues of humanity in general, all nature of the subject as an individual included together in the same category, to be corrected since his faults are or- all the individuals —delinquents, dinary, frequent, and obvious in fami- peoples to be colonized, or the mad— lies, and the two women cannot correct who can only be reconverted, civilized these by themselves. and subjected to orthopedic treatment Now, in terms of the reason why if they are offered a family model. the subject is being prosecuted, as (Psychiatric Power 109) already discussed, this reason is not completely clear. The wife states that The subject, if he is crazy, is part the subject was a cheater and they had of this group of individuals: people communication problems. The mother to be colonized, delinquents, and suggests that he left her alone. The people to be reconverted, civilized and Teacher even utters that “the bleeding subjected to orthopedic treatment. All heart and artists / Let him get away these individuals are treated the same, with murder” (13-14). Is doing what- as residues of society. Foucault also ever you want a crime? If the teacher believes that the cure for the insane and the other antagonists in the nar- relies on returning to the family model; rative believe so, it is a fairly judg- this is exactly the wish of the mother mental and irate conviction. However, when she states: the subject calls himself crazy in the choruses of the song: M’lud I never wanted him to Get in any trouble BOZA. The Teacher, The Doctor and The Judge... 383

Why’d he ever have to leave me I sentence you to be exposed before Worm your honor let me take him Your peers home. (30-33) Tear down the wall10 (49-53).

She wants to take him home, to a Why is the judge punishing the place that resembles the panopticon, subject? It seems that his fault is the architectural model of modern revealing his deepest fear. Which is this institutions for controlling individuals, fear? Well, if one pays close attention including prisons. Insane or not, the to what the subject establishes when subject is treated as a delinquent. There he has the chance to speak, one finds is also the possibility that the subject is out that there is anxiety in his words: appealing to insanity as a way to avoid “they must have taken my marbles punishment; nevertheless, it seems away” and “there must have been a that in the micro-world of The Wall door there in the wall / when in came madness constitutes a type of crime, or in” (17,36-37). His anxiety reveals at least it is treated as one, so it does his fear of losing his marbles, going not matter if the subject is appealing insane, but this madness is caused by to insanity as a way to avoid being the influence of other people, perhaps declared guilty or because he really is his family and authorities, and of being insane; he is treated as a criminal. lost in a maze fenced by the wall. On Now, it is time to consider the one hand, people cause anxiety on the figure of the judge. After the speeches subject to the extent that they can of the witnesses and the subject calling make the subject go insane, or at least, himself crazy for the second time, the judge the subject so harshly that he judge comes onto the scene. He does concludes that he is insane; he feels as not speak; he screams dreadfully, a residue of society, a piece not used suggesting the hostility and intolerance in the social machinery. On the other of the law, of authority, and of power hand, he is afraid of being trapped when confronting the subject, a subject inside the wall, and what it represents that has erred or has gone against (isolation, lack of communication, or social standards of normality. He even reclusion), and of not finding freedom. establishes: “the way you make them What is the verdict? To tear down the suffer / your exquisite wife and mother wall, to expose him before his equals, / fills me with the urge to defecate” (46- before the rest of society, in order to 48). The judge demonstrates with these subdue him to the law established by bizarre and disturbing verses the fury popular consent. The exposure before that the case of the subject is generating society represents a mechanism of on him. The lines also show that if an control: the subject has to behave individual goes against the law, the law because he will always be monitored; will reply with its worst. Now, in terms this mechanism alludes to the of punishment, the judge is in charge of panopticon. As the individual secluded imposing it, so he establishes: in this architectural model has to feel that he/she is being observed so that [Since] my friend you have revealed your he/she behaves properly. But is being Deepest fear afraid of the cruelty of others and of 384 Revista de Lenguas Modernas, N.° 26, 2017 / 367-386 / ISSN: 1659-1933 never reaching freedom a real crime with the three of them. These images that deserves “the full penalty of law” manifest notions related to violence, to in order to secure justice? No, the whole fluctuation of power, to control over the trial is absurd. There is no real crime body, to indifference, to curing as a form behind “The Trial”; it only illustrates of social control, to authorities as false that the judicial apparatus and the witnesses, to the consent of people as a law embodied by the judge (along form of backing up the powerful, and to with the witnesses and the district punishment. All these manifestations attorney) represent an instrument of of power affect the subject in a power, as Foucault believes: “Law is detrimental way. The subject is one of neither the truth of power nor its alibi. the students hiding their weaknesses It is an instrument of power which is from the teacher, becomes an addict at once complex and partial” (Power/ to the cure that the doctor gives him Knowledge 141). as a way to avoid his breakdowns, and The judge constitutes the last is subjected to the punishment the authority present in The Wall. He judge dictates. Moreover, the influence is vile, intolerant, and resentful, as that authorities have on the subject the law that he epitomizes. In this through power relations, that drives sense, the law and judicial apparatus him to madness, dehumanization, and portrayed in “The Trial” correspond isolation, is unmistakable. to a series of rules and regulations Furthermore, Pink Floyd’s album that preserve the common good, but not only constitutes an anatomy of this common good is a façade imposed power relations, their causes, and their by the ones in power so, through the consequences, it also stands for an ode law, they manipulate and control to dehumanization: each and every of individuals. The clearest example in its songs may be seen as an account the album stands for the speaker who of the different instances which lead goes through a legal prosecution that individuals to this condition. The aims to prove that he is guilty (of what? album is an epic poem showing the life It is still a mystery): the whole process of a subject, Pink, and the different aspires to subdue him to the law and to stages and persons that he relates to the rules of proper behavior. throughout this journey, from baby to child, from child to adult, from adult to dehumanized individual trapped in Final Words a detrimental society. With amazing music, mesmerizing background This article constitutes a reflection sounds which contribute to take on the notion of authorities, on the the story to a new level of meaning, apparatus they embody, and on the touching vocal interpretation, and influence they have on the subject in clever lyrics which demonstrate artistic The Wall by Pink Floyd, this, from a and literary value, The Wall shows power-relation perspective. The album itself, not just as a fine rock album, presents three main authorities: but as a multilayer piece of art which the teacher, the physician, and the deserves academic respect. judge; and how the subject interacts BOZA. The Teacher, The Doctor and The Judge... 385

Notes whole set of rules governing the court is nothing but a charade, a mere act. 1. Foucault affirms in his book Power/ 5. 5These two terms are explored in Knowledge that the medical apparatus depth in chapter three of Abnormal. has had such a remarkable role in 6. 6“toys in the attic,” such a simple and society that it has had effects on beautiful image to suggest transgres- the organization of it. For the sake sion of social parameters of normal of collective hygiene, the medical behavior. Floyd has done this before apparatus has had an authoritarian in “Brain Damage” (part of the album influence in all the social spheres, from The Dark Side of the Moon) with the the most private circles, such as the verses: “the paper hold their folded family, to the control and organization faces to the floor / and every day the of public spaces (174-175). paper boy brings more.” Picking the 2. “Comfortably Numb” is sung in a newspaper from the front door consti- remarkable way: Waters sings the tutes such an ordinary activity, but if it parts of the doctor while Gilmour is not carried out, it can even denote sings the chorus, the voice of the that there is some sort of mental pro- subject/patient. Although the chorus blem in a person. is considered to be the most important 7. Probably a reference to The Wizard of part of a (rock) song and Gilmour does Oz since its soundtrack includes the fa- an outstanding job in this song, it is mous song Over the Rainbow. This is the parts of Waters, of the physician, not the first time a connection between that are rather captivating. He sings this iconic movie and their music comes with a deep, expressionless, absent out if one takes into consideration the voice, which really contributes to urban legend of the The Dark Side of the sense of dehumanization in the the Rainbow (the montage of the visual doctor-patient relation. part of The Wizard of Oz and the music 3. Some listeners/readers may think of of The Dark Side of the Moon). a fairly similar character of a piece 8. Foucault devotes a great amount of his of art on another artistic field: the writing to analyze the way in which Je- Master of Ceremonies in the 1972 remy Bentham’s panopticon works as film Cabaret performed by Joel Grey. a spatial mechanism to exercise and The two characters play the role of subdue to power. The French theorist the trickster, which in the case of affirms that in this architectural model Grey is significantly evident due to his power is exercised through isolation, sardonic smile, his makeup, and his game of light and sight, and the sense facial expressions; however, the way of being observed. Waters sings the lines of the district 9. The act of the judge defecating can attorney also conveys this image. also be analyzed from the perspective 4. The rhythmic pattern of the emerging of the scatological theory and the anal music evokes circus-like music, an stage of psychoanalysis and how the intriguing fact due to the sarcasm that judge releases, exercises power, and this implies. This suggests that Pink derives pleasure from this. Floyd wanted to compare a trial and 10. The lyrics included in the booklet of the the judicial apparatus with a circus. The The Wall have the word “but” instead of 386 Revista de Lenguas Modernas, N.° 26, 2017 / 367-386 / ISSN: 1659-1933

“since”: “but my friend you have revealed ---. Psychiatric Power: Lectures at the your deepest fear.” However, I decided College de France 1973 - 1974. Ed. to use the lyrics based on the audio of Jacques Lagrange. New York: Pal- the album, which contain “since.” grave Macmillan, 2006. PDF. Hobsbawm, Eric. Age of Extremes: The Short Twentieth Century 1914- Bibliography 1991. London: Abacus, 1994. PDF. Lukes, Steven, ed. Power. New York: Althusser, Louis. “Ideology and Ideo- New York University Press, 1986. logical Sate Apparatuses: (Notes Print. towards an Investigation).” Lenin Pink Floyd. The Wall. EMI, 1994. CD. and Philosophy and Other Essays. Reisch, George A., ed. Pink Floyd and New York: Monthly Review, 1971. Philosophy: Carefull with That 127-186. PDF. Axiom, Eugene! Vol. 30. Chicago: Foucault, Michel. Abnormal: Lectu- Open Court, 2007. Print. Popular res at the College de France 1974 Culture and Philosophy. - 1975. Ed. Arnold Davidson. Lon- Winterman, Denise. “Just Another don: Verso, 2003. PDF. Brick in the Wall?” BBC News. ---. Power/Knowledge. Ed Colin Gor- BBC, 2 Oct. 2007. Web. 29 Oct. don. New York: Pantheon Books, 2014.