The first time that I read the excerpt ‘Brick Wall’, I thought there was no significance of the bricks at all. Only after reading it a second time did I realize that there was more to it than the author explaining to the reader how brick is made. I believe that the significance of brick in the story is to remind the reader of how much older things are than them and explain why people seem to be naturally attracted to old ‘antique’ things. This is why the antique warehouse was brought to our attention right after the author had spent time describing how old the soil that brick is made out of is. His question of why people would want fake antiques made me also think why people would want brick in the first place if getting it required so much trouble. This however brought me to the conclusion that people wanted antiques just like Chicago wanted bricks because they had both withstood time. When George died, the author talked about how he had never seen something old lay on the grounded so lifeless and this reminded me of the wrecking ball that would tear down the brick buildings. Anything, no matter how strong and old it is must come to an end.
I agree with your interpretation of the brick. I think that D'Ambrosio's portrayal of the antique shop is interesting, he talks about how the customers dug for the pseudo antiques, as if searching for buried treasure. I think that this supports your idea that people want things weathered by the mysteries of time. People want to believe that they are adding to the story.
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