Telephone Conversation  : ISC Rhapsody Long  Answer Questions 

 Telephone Conversation  : ISC Rhapsody Solutions

Question : How and when does the language and tone of the speaker change in the poem ? What does it suggest ?

 Answer:  

The poem  “Telephone Conversation” by Wole Soyinka is a poem that satirises racism. It depicts a conversation between a black speaker and his prospective landlady who happens to be a white woman.

     At first, the landlady seemed ready to move forward with renting to the speaker even  “swearing” that  “she lived off premises”. She cant detect the speaker’s race through the phone, a fact that emphasises that the speaker’s identity is comprised of more than his race and that skin colour is irrelevant to the speaker’s suitability as a tenant.

    But when the speaker makes the self – confession, about being African, the conversation abruptly shifts to  a discussion of his skin tone.

   After a short silence the woman asks – 

     “HOW DARK ?…….ARE YOU LIGHT / 

      OR VERY DARK ?…..”

     After he discloses his identity, the woman insists on knowing the exact colour of the man. Instead of asking about other details such as his family, occupation, income etc p, she is more concerned about his colour and race. When hears her question he can not believe that he “had not misheard”. Then he feels shocked, confused and ashamed.

    Although he too is aware of the prevailing prejudice in the society. But this is a new variety of colour prejudice in which, apparently the precise shade of his skin matters. The speaker is so incredulous that he looks around his to ensure that he is still inhabiting the real world.

      At that moment he feels disgusting with the question and fancies himself to be a machine like a phone. He reduces to being a button on that phone by the categorisation of the woman. 

   “Button B. Button A.”

     He bitterly describes himself as ashamed and his silence as  “ill – mannered” before ironically calling the landlady “considerate”  for changing her emphasis.

    The man at first remains polite and humble but due to the lady’s repeated questions and her attitude towards his colour and race,ma sense of anger rose inside the man which is portrayed by repeating the word “red” – 

    “Red booth. Red piller – box. Red double – tiered /

   Omnibus squelching tar.”

      The man holds on to codes of formality which breaks down at the woman’s insensitivity. When he realises the woman’s derogatory  attitude towards the black, he gets annoyed and this is the point when he starts responding in an ironical and sarcastic way. At this point his tone also changes from polite and humble to sarcastic and ironical. This change in his tone reflects his emotional transition from willingness to engage to a defensive posture. This suggests his devastation and anger towards the societal racism he faces in – day – day life.

     The speaker describes himself as “West African sepia” a joke that goes right over the slow – witted landlady’s head.

       He further says that the soles of his feet and the palms of his hands are “peroxide blonde” and his bottom becomes “raven black” due to the friction caused by prolonged sitting. But he still knows that the land lady will never be convinced with his black complexion and he senses that she might slam down the receiver anytime. At that time he makes a final attempt pleading her to come and take a good look at him, reveals his devastation and disappointment. He wants to shout out loud saying that is black but he is not that black for anyone to be put to shame.

     As the poem closes the landlady hangs up on the speaker suggesting that as a white person, she still holds the power in the society to effectively silence the black speaker.

   The idea behind the poem. “Telephone Conversation” is to depict how brutal  and devastating it can be for a man who is being subjected to racial discrimination. And how he uses satirical humour to cope with this uncomfortable situation and mock his discriminators’ prejudice.