what do you understand by the phrase 'making brick with straw'?from novel up from slavery
The literal meaning of the idiom ‘making bricks without straw’ is to perform a task despite the lack of necessary materials. This is in reference to the chapter ‘A Harder Task than Making Bricks without Straw’ from the novel Up from Slavery, where the author discovers making bricks, even if all the necessary materials are present, is not an easy task; it requires money and experience as well. The author, Booker T. Washington had always sympathised with the children of Israel who were forced to make bricks with no straw and thought all it took to do the work was the presence of the required things for the process. However, he realises that it is not so as he begins his task of teaching the students at Tuskegee how labour need not necessarily be drudgery with the help of the latest methods. As they begin the process of building bricks for the foundation of the first hall their lack of experience comes through, resulting in various problems. Firstly, the work being hard and dirty made it difficult to get the students to help. Secondly, their lack of special skill and knowledge resulted in failure at their first four attempts at building a kiln, even with outside help. This furthered the difficulty in getting the students to take any part in the work and spending of the entire money.