Analysis Of Telephone Conversation By Wole Soyinka

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Social Issue on Racism “The Telephone Conversation”
Wole Soyinka is a name that is larger than life in the literary world. His masterclass comes to the fore in the poem Telephone conversation (Soyinka 52). The poem has subtitles, irony, and an underlying theme, which is racism. A dark reality that he skillfully reveals and shows is utterly ridiculous. The poem introduces a West African persona to the audience. The poem tells the story of the man who makes a phone call to a potential landlady, as he is in need of a place to stay. However, it quickly boils down to the matter of his skin color. Any relevant details, such as the price of the apartment or amenities available, are left untouched. Telephone conversation paints a sorry picture of
The landlady in the poem is pivotal in this context. The speaker suggests that she is well off and comes from a good background. She is polite by default, but the man can still sense her strain to remain civil, when a deeper stronger desire resonates within her. The desire temporarily escapes like steam, when her “light impersonality” (Soyinka 22) transitions to “hard on the mouthpiece” (Soyinka 26). The poem, albeit ironically, continually describes the landlady in glowing terms. It is her final action (to deny lease) and her crude questions that reveal her shallow and racist self. The West African man thinks she is considerate enough to vary her tonal emphasis to keep it civil, but her civility wears thin under the weight of her racism. As the reader, one gets the impression that she has a sense of decorum. If she was dealing with a white person, she would be well-mannered, but she is talking to an African. The thought itself leads to “silenced transmission of pressurized good-breeding” (Soyinka
It deals with the dark issue of social racism in a comical light. The man displays an impressive grasp of English vocabulary that serves the purpose of showing the absurd nature of judging a man’s character by his skin (Obuke 261). The poem also shows that discrimination is not exclusive of a specific region or country. Socialization produces the side effect of human beings who do not judge a book by its cover, but have no qualms judging a man by the color of his skin. Such emotions as anger, disgust, and humiliation have been cleverly camouflaged by the use of irony and sarcasm. Telephone conversation is a timeless piece of art, because it talks about issues that plague our society to this day. Social racism is not restricted to color, it has moved on to religion, culture, and sexual

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