Telephone conversation by Wole Soyinka

Telephone conversation by Wole Soyinka

%....... Introduction of poet

Wole Soyinka is a Nigerian playwright, poet, author, teacher and political activist who received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986.

Early Life

Wole Soyinka was born Akinwande Oluwole "Wole" Babatunde Soyinka on July 13, 1934, in Abeokuta, near Ibadan in western Nigeria. His father, Samuel Ayodele Soyinka, was a prominent Anglican minister and headmaster. His mother, Grace Eniola Soyinka, who was called "Wild Christian," was a shopkeeper and local activist. As a child, he lived in an Anglican mission compound, learning the Christian teachings of his parents, as well as the Yoruba spiritualism and tribal customs of his grandfather. A precocious and inquisitive child, Wole prompted the adults in his life to warn one another: “He will kill you with his questions.”

After finishing preparatory university studies in 1954 at Government College in Ibadan, Soyinka moved to England and continued his education at the University of Leeds, where he served as the editor of the school's magazine, The Eagle. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in English literature in 1958. (In 1972 the university awarded him an honorary doctorate).

%..... Poetry Analysis: Wole Soyinka’s “Telephone          Conversation”

Wole Soyinka’s “Telephone Conversation” is an eloquent exchange of dialogue between a dark West African man and his British landlady that inexorably verges on the question of apartheid. The poet makes use of the most articulate means to air his views, through that of a telephone conversation, where there is instant and natural give-and-take. It exhibits a one-to-one correspondence between the two. The interaction between a coloured and a white individual at once assumes universal overtones.

At the outset, the poet says that the price seemed reasonable and the location ‘indifferent’. Note that as a word, even though the word “indifferent” denotes being ‘unbiased’, it is a word with negative connotations. However, as we come across the Landlady’s biased nature; the word ‘indifferent’ gains positive overtones, as it is better than being impartial. The lady swears that she lived ‘off premises’. Nevertheless, the very aspect of his colour poses a problem to her, far from her promise to remain aloof. Nothing remains for the poet, he says, but confession. It gives a picture of him sitting in a confessional, when he hasn’t committed any crime….his crime is his colour, his remorse is solutionless. He tells the lady that he hates a wasted journey. Perhaps his words connote more than he literally signifies. The poet seems to be tired of his life conditioned by racist prejudices. As he mentions that he is a West African, the lady is crammed with silence, but a silence that speaks volumes. A telephone is an instrument that primarily transmits voices, here it becomes a medium for silence also. The so-called civilized world, has these silent powerful issues that need to be voiced. Here, the silence echoes. It is a silence that is the consequence of her sophisticated upbringing. However, her prejudices transcend her to primitivism, living in the superstitious narrow-mindedness of caste and colour.

When the voice finally came, it was ‘lip-stick coated’,well made-up and diplomatic to suit an affected atmosphere. The inevitable question finally comes cross:” ARE YOU DARK? OR VERY LIGHT?”The poet views it as button B or Button A. The question places two alternatives before him: dark or light; The truth or lies. The first option would obviously shut off all doors to him. The term Button B also is the button in the public telephone box to get the money back. Button A is the one to connect the call. The poet first ponders on Button B to get out of his predicament. He then realizes that escapism is not the solution, and decides to face the situation. The words: “Stench /Of rancid breath of public hide-and-speak” signify the claustrophobic nature of the questions rather than the atmosphere.

The colour ‘red’ in “Red booth. Red pillar box. Red double-tiered” forebode caution. The questions were too naked to be true. The speaker at last brings himself to believe them. His response is very witty: “You mean–like plain or milk chocolate?” This is the most apt response as dark chocolate is certainly more tempting than plain chocolate. Her disinterested approval of the question was like that of a clinical doctor made immune to human emotions through experience. Human pain and misery its own saturation point; after a certain point people tend to joke at their own agony. As the saying goes: Be a God, and laugh at Yourself. The speaker therefore begins enjoying the situation and confuses the lady on the other side. He asserts: “West African sepia”, to further confuse her.

Silence for spectroscopic
Flight of fancy, till truthfulness clanged her accent
Hard on the mouthpiece. “WHAT’S THAT?” conceding
“DON’T KNOW WHAT THAT IS.” “Like brunette.”
“THAT’S DARK, ISN’T IT?” “Not altogether.
Facially, I am brunette, but, madam, you should see
The rest of me. Palm of my hand, soles of my feet
Are a peroxide blond. Friction, caused–
Foolishly, madam–by sitting down, has turned

My bottom raven black–One moment, madam!”–sensing
Her receiver rearing on the thunderclap
About my ears–“Madam,” I pleaded, “wouldn’t you rather
See for yourself?”

The last lines verge on vulgarity, but simply out of outrage. The mixed feelings, the random and broken sentences, the lack of coherence of speech, the question-answer mode are all typical of a telephone conversation that reverberates more than it sounds.

%.....critical overview of the poem ''Telephone Conversation'' by Wole Soyinka?

This poem is written by ‘Wole Soyinka’. Poet deals with racism and relation of black and white people. Talk about first world country and third world country. A black man wont to perchance home (land) from white lady. There is telephonic conversation between them. Telephone is symbol of connecting people, it is tool of communication.  But here in poem it shows distance between two people and nation also. Lady represents first world country and black man represent third world country (nation). Here we found Frantz Fanon’s concept of “Black skin and white Mask”. In this poem both are rich, necklace shows richness of lady and black man want to buy home so it shows richness of black man. But lady over power man because she represent or belongs to ‘first world nation’.  Lady is colonizer and man is colonized. Location place (home) white colony and for Negro man it is kind of achievement. In this poem we found that lady asked several question, like ‘where are you from? How dark? Are you light or very Dark? After this there is a deep silent. Silent suggest so many things. Silent is ill manner silent. Here we have one question that who is really dark? Black man gives self-confection, ‘I am African’ and many other things. Word use by man “Madam” is shows man gives respect to white lady. I’m not fully dark, don’t go with my color, and in this poem we found that man give his identity to that lady. But lady not give her identity. At the end of the poem there is one line, “About my ears-‘Madam,’ I pleaded, wouldn’t you rather See yourself?” it shows that what men think and mentality of white lady. When we look at this poem with post-colonial perspective, how white people feel superior and black people are inferior. What white people think about black people? That they are always bad and cruel, black people are barbaric, uncultured and uncivilized people.

%.......Theme and tone in 'Telephone Conversation' by Wole Soyinka

Telephone Conversation was a poem concerning the racial discrimination between the Caucasian and African. In the poem, the poet wanted to rent a house from the landlady originally. However, after he stated that he was African, the conversation turned to discuss the poet's skin color swiftly and it lasted till the end of the conversation.. Repetition was used to emphasize on the issue of racial discrimination. 'Dark' was repeated to show how much did the landlady care about the poet's color, because 'dark' usually connects with the dark skin color of African. The landlady was obviously discriminating other races. It could also be shown from the question she repeated asking, 'are you light or very dark?'After the poet told the landlady that he was African, the landlady's tone changed at once. Alliteration like 'clinical, crushing' was used to emphasize the coldness in the landlady's tone when she knew the man was African.

Metaphor liked 'spectroscopic' was used to compare the landlady's mind with equipment which was used to judge a color. The significance of using this metaphor was to show the landlady was eager to find out what color the poet was.

Throughout the whole poem, the poet used different techniques to show how Caucasian discriminated the dark. He criticized it was not appropriate to judge a person with his skin color. Instead, they should know each other through direct contact and interaction, 'madam, you should see the rest of me. Palm of my hand, soles of my feet are a peroxide blond.'To conclude, the poet brought out the message that there shouldn't have racial discrimination existed.

Tone in 'Telephone Conversation' by Wole SovinkaThe poet conveyed his feelings on racism through a telephone conversation with a landlady. The tone of the poem was satirical and playful.

%....... Conclusion

 This all African poems reflect African culture and what African people think about colonizer people. We found that how British people go there and started ruling over them, enslaved them, make them slave. What are the views of African people on the so called civilization? Generally we found that cultural conflict is one of the most prominent points in African poem or literature. Through this poems we found that all poet tryst to discusses one problem, problem of his ancient heritage because of the attack of western culture.

%....Works Cited

Works CitedDorakhy, write work and. September 2007. <http://www.writework.com/essay/theme-and-tone-telephone-conversation-wole-soyinka>.

jasani's, Nidhi. 2014-2016. <http://jasaninidhi2014-16.blogspot.in/2016/03/topiccritical-analysis-of-poems-african.html>.

M.K, RUKHAYA. SEPTEMBER 7, 2014. <http://rukhaya.com/poetry-analysis-wole-soyinkas-telephone-conversation/>.

Taylor, Elizabeth. <https://www.biography.com/people/wole-soyinka-9489566>.