Telephone Conversation by Wole Soyinka
In the summary of
Telephone conversation by Wole Soyinka, the poet talks about two
people on the phone and the story goes on to narrate how the African
man is looking for a house and the land lady has proposed a
considerable price for the same. The poem strikes a positive note as
the man gets to know that his privacy won’t be hampered as the
landlady doesn’t stay on the premises. The African man is happy to
know that and just before he makes up his mind to consider the offer,
he drops in to mention that he is black. On the other end of the
line, there was nothing but silence which the African man takes it to
be an impolite gesture of refusal.
However, the silence
is soon broken as the landlady starts to speak again asking him to
explain exactly how dark he is. First, the man think that he might
have misheard the question but when the landlady repeats, he
understands that this is something very important for her to know
before she allows him to rent her house. This is something that came
out entirely devastating for the African man and for a moment he felt
disgusted with the question and fancies himself to be a machine, like
the phone and that he has been reduced to being a button on the
phone. He could also smell the foul from her words and he sees “red’
everywhere all around.
The idea of
Telephone conversation is to depict how brutal it can be for a man
who is subjected to racial discrimination. Thoughts of racism and
pre-notions come blended with an element of irony that takes over the
theme of “Telephone conversation”. The Afro-American man is
reduced to shame by the sudden silence from the other side and he
gets into a state of make belief where he sarcastically thinks that
the lady broke her silence and gave him option to choose and define
‘how dark” he is. “Like chocolate, or dark or light?” Then,
he goes on to answer that he is defined as “West African sepia”
in his passport. The lady not knowing how dark it could be didn’t
want to embarrass the man further by resorting to silence. So, she
asks him to define what he means. The man replies, that it is almost
similar to being a brunette but a dark brunette.
All this while, the
man has been holding on to codes of formality which breaks loose at
the landlady’s insensitiveness. The African man now shouts out loud
saying that he is black but he is not that black for anyone to be put
to shame. He also says that the soles of his feet and the palms of
his hand are all white but he is a fool that he sits on his rear
which has turned black due to friction. He knows that the landlady
will never be convinced with his black complexion and he senses that
she might slam down the receiver on him. At such a crucial juncture,
he makes a desperate and silly attempt to plead her to come and take
a good look at him but couldn’t help the situation from getting
worse. Finally, the landlady slams down the receiver on his face.
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