I think this song is more vain, more personal. The beginning maps out a crime scene where the criminals take defense inside a building as their opponents wait outside. The only form of communication between the two is via written letters. It's notable that writting letters is physically non-violent.
The crime scene is revealed as a metaphor in the second "stanza". The actual situation is one of the narrator and a significant other. The narrator takes harsh verbal abuse and the "walls" are a type of emotional defense that he has taken up. The point that stands is that the narrator didn't just build these walls to keep himself from the verbal abuse; the walls are like boudries that keep his relationship with this other person non-violent, such as the criminals are not physically violent in writing the letters. But it is also very important to know that these words are detramental and have much influence over the narrator. This is shown by the wripping of the pages and the breaking nuckles. So, the narrator is so effected by this influence that he hurts himself in fits of anger. As he "locks the doors from the inside" he locks himself in a place where he physically hurts himself..... To sum up that part: a guys "girlfriend" (or friend or whoever) yells at him (or hurts him in some non-violent way) and instead of reacting to his friend he gets angry and takes it out on himself. (It's kinda like when you get so mad that you punch walls or some other inanimate object.)
The last paragraph basically identifies the fact that there is hope and the narrator does feel very connected to this person that causes him pain. He dreams of the day when things will be better, but at the same time he respects his situation: "this place, these walls, mean everything to me."
I think this song is more vain, more personal. The beginning maps out a crime scene where the criminals take defense inside a building as their opponents wait outside. The only form of communication between the two is via written letters. It's notable that writting letters is physically non-violent. The crime scene is revealed as a metaphor in the second "stanza". The actual situation is one of the narrator and a significant other. The narrator takes harsh verbal abuse and the "walls" are a type of emotional defense that he has taken up. The point that stands is that the narrator didn't just build these walls to keep himself from the verbal abuse; the walls are like boudries that keep his relationship with this other person non-violent, such as the criminals are not physically violent in writing the letters. But it is also very important to know that these words are detramental and have much influence over the narrator. This is shown by the wripping of the pages and the breaking nuckles. So, the narrator is so effected by this influence that he hurts himself in fits of anger. As he "locks the doors from the inside" he locks himself in a place where he physically hurts himself..... To sum up that part: a guys "girlfriend" (or friend or whoever) yells at him (or hurts him in some non-violent way) and instead of reacting to his friend he gets angry and takes it out on himself. (It's kinda like when you get so mad that you punch walls or some other inanimate object.) The last paragraph basically identifies the fact that there is hope and the narrator does feel very connected to this person that causes him pain. He dreams of the day when things will be better, but at the same time he respects his situation: "this place, these walls, mean everything to me."