Literature and Life

Poem Telephone Conversation by Wole Soyinka

Q1. This poem is full of colours not just that of skin, what do you think these colours signify?

Ans: This poem used many colours to signify different things in the passage.

Firstly, dark and light was used and the metaphor " plain or milk chocolate" further creates a visual image for the reader to imagine the colour of the author. Dark and light was used most often and this may be because the author wanted to show the contrast between the author and the landlady. Red was also used- "Red booth", the "Red pillar-box", and the "Red double-tiered Omnibus" to show the anger of the African-American as he was being discriminated by the landlady through her speeches.

Next, the colours signify the discrimination of dark-skinned African-American as the landlady was very reluctant to rent the flat to the speaker. This can be seen from the landlady being "Silence" with "Silenced transmission of pressurized good-breeding".

Lastly, the colours also shows that the speaker is a black and that he did not like being discriminated by others. This can be seen from the incident where the speaker keep explaining that he is not really that dark-skinned/black.

In conclusion, the dark-skinned African-American were discriminated during the past and the colours used in the passage further enhance the dark-skin the speaker has. The conversation shows how unwilling the landlady wanted to rent the flat to him, showing the discrimination of dark-skinned African-American in the past.

Q2.What does the dialogue in this poem reveal about these two characters?

Ans: The dialogue in this poem reveals the different origins of the two characters.

In stanza 1, which is the start of the conversation, the speaker was already asked about his skin colour and his origin. The landlady immediately felt the pressure as she was unwilling to take a dark-skinned African-American in.

This poem shows that the two characters, the landlady and the speaker are white and black respectively. Many colours were then used to describe the different parts of the speaker. This may be because the author wanted to show the deep contrast between the two characters.

The landlady may be convicted for renting her flat to a black because she was not really that reluctant to rent the flat to the speaker. There may be a rule then that a white could not help the black or something like that as the passage revealed that she was not really that reluctant from the "..." used

In conclusion, the two characters in the poem showed the deep "grudge" or different between a white and a black. This may be due to the discrimination of African-American in the past.

Q3. The poet dramatises a battle, who wins finally and why?

Ans: In this poem Telephone conversation by Wole Soyinka, a "battle" was happening with the winner being the speaker.

This is because the speaker was insistent on renting the flat. The white lady was rather to rent her flat to the speaker and kept asking him questions. The speaker showed that he must rent the flat regardless of anything as he said, " I hate a wasted journey."

The speaker seemed to know that he is being discriminated as he states, " I am African". He seems prepared for the battle as he had already told the landlady his origin. Then, as the whitelady tried to insult or humiliate him with the different metaphors like "plain or milk chocolate" and insisting that he is a black.

The speaker was not really affected as he was prepared for it. He eventually won when he showed his anger. We could see that he is kind of angry from the different "Red" used in the passage to describe the surroundings, more for describing the atmosphere. The red also described the different items in the background which are commonly used in countries to show that he did not notice his surroundings till he got discriminated. He eventually said, " wouldn't you rather see for yourself?" in the last line of the last stanza. He seemed to be angry when the landlady kept asking the colour of his different body parts. After the multiple insults from the white landlady, the African eventually got angry and re-butted by telling her that his bottom is extremely black due to the friction it got after he stood and sat for the many years. He ends off by asking the landlady to see him for herself, winning the battle eventually.

In conclusion, the poet won the battle dramatised in the poem most probably because he was more well-spoken and because he was very insistent on renting the flat. He managed to re-butt the landlady by asking her to see his skin colour and the colour of his different body parts herself.