Telephone Conversation Poem PDF by Wole Soyinka

“Telephone Conversation” Wole Soyinka By: Dr. Banan AlJahdali "Telephone Conversation" is a 1963 poem by the Nigerian writer Wole Soyinka that satires racism. The poem is about n African woman looking for a room to rent. She finds an advertisement in a newspaper. The ad says that...

“Telephone Conversation” Wole Soyinka By: Dr. Banan AlJahdali "Telephone Conversation" is a 1963 poem by the Nigerian writer Wole Soyinka that satires racism. The poem is about n African woman looking for a room to rent. She finds an advertisement in a newspaper. The ad says that there is no problem with race – white or black. As the African woman had bitter experiences with such ads earlier, she makes a telephone call to the landlady from a public telephone booth. She tells the lady that she is an African woman and asks if it is acceptable. The lady hesitates for a while as she wants to know if the African woman is completely dark or light. When the African woman says that she is not completely black because her palms and soles are white. The lady goes silent and hangs the phone even though the African woman pleads her to at least meet her in person to see for herself if the African woman is totally black. This piece of literature becomes significant as it presents both the attitude of the white woman towards black people and the African woman’s anger towards discrimination.  Themes Racism and the Complexity of Identity -The speaker, who is black, makes fun of a white landlady who won’t rent to the speaker until she knows whether the speaker’s skin is “dark” or “light.” ‫ﺎت أن ٮ&ﻮﺻٮ"ﻒ‬,‫ٮ‬-‫إٮ‬ ‫ﺸﺮٮ&ﻬﻢ‬,‫ﻠون ٮ‬,‫ٮﺎس ٮ‬6 ‫اﻟ‬ -the landlady can’t detect the speaker’s race through the phone ‫ٮ "ٮ &ٮﻬﻢ‬6 ‫ﺴﺎ‬6‫ٮ " &ڡﻠﻞ ﻣﻦ إٮ‬ -The speaker is criticizing the landlady’s racism. The speaker cleverly mocks the landlady’s ignorance and prejudice, demonstrating that characterizing people by their skin color diminishes their humanity. -Judging a person based on their skin color, the poem argues, is ignorant, illogical, and dehumanizing. -The poem shows how racial discrimination prevails hidden in the hearts of individuals. Even though there are laws against discrimination in the country, these laws become ineffective if individuals do not change their mindset. -The landlady shows double standards. Publicly, she shows that she is not a racist, but privately, she shows her true attitude and practices racism Form and technique -Soyinka’s ‘Telephone Conversation’ is a lyric poem written in free verse. The poem is a dialogue involving a black woman and a white woman. -What makes this poem special and different is the use of humour. The use of irony and sarcasm serves to ridicule the idea of racism and make the landlady appear foolish. -Soyinka uses repetition for emphasizing the idea of the practice of racism by the so-called elites. The words “dark” “light” and “red” which are often used in the poem could be cited as examples for repetition used for emphasizing racism. The landlady is careful in not using the taboo word, ‘black’. Instead, she asks an indirect question on the degree of darkness. -The use of words describing colors and shades serves as a reminder of the prevalence of racism in the white society where everything light and very light represents the upper class, and everything dark and very dark represents the lower class.  “Pressurised good-breeding. Voice, when it came,”: In this line, the poet uses the term “pressurized good-breeding” term to refer to the white people who call themselves educated and therefore decent. They do not speak out against black people, but they continue to harbor racial prejudice towards black people. The black woman also stereotypes the white landlady just by hearing her voice over the telephone. She imagines that the landlady’s lips must be painted red with lipstick, and she must be smoking and using a gold-tinted cigarette lighter. The poet reveals that both white and black people show prejudice because they tend to stereotype people.  “Of rancid breath of public hide-and-speak.” In this line, the African woman claims that she can smell the bad breath of hypocrisy from the landlady. White people hide their racial discrimination in public, but they practice it privately. The double standard behavior angers the black woman, and she sees red in her eyes.