When was telephone conversation published

It seems the silence made him feel as if he was the one being impolite? He wants clarity, please. To clarify, she asks again, deemed to be a considerate thing to do from the caller's perspective. Or is he being slightly sarcastic? I suspect the latter. The caller now sees what she is getting at.

She wants an analogy and the perfect analogy is chocolate. His question thrown back is a gem:. She agrees, answering in the affirmative, which is yet another body-blow for the African man, because she's so impersonal with it.

He's a quick mover, however, and arguably gains the higher ground by saying that he is 'West African sepia' which is officially endorsed, because it's also in his passport. Note the use of the word spectroscopic, which is a scientific term related to the colour spectrum and the way matter interacts with electromagnetic radiation. This is a curious word to find in a poem about racism. Perhaps the caller is a student of science?

Or the speaker is indirectly implying that the spectrum is indifferent when it comes to the matter of colour. Colour simply is; we humans are the ones who attach prejudices to it?

The African man informs the landlady that sepia is akin to brunette French word for brown—associated usually with brown-haired girls.

There is more enlightenment to come for the well-bred landlady. The caller explains that his face is brunette but that other parts of his anatomy are not. In fact, the palms of his hand and soles of his feet are lighter. Peroxide is a chemical used to turn hair really blond, bleached. And he goes further, much further. He sarcastically admits to sitting down and that this causes his bottom bum, ass, posterior to turn raven black. Oh dear, this has a direct affect on the unfortunate landlady, and he senses her unease.

She will soon clang the solid plastic receiver head down and hurt his ears. But before he's cut off completely, he just manages to suggest that she herself should see with her own eyes. In a nutshell, the caller has turned the tables on racist bias and, with a mix of humour, moral stance and arguably charm, shown up the landlady for what she is.

A very interesting and in-depth analysis. Thank you for the introduction to this poem and the poet. Marine Biology. Electrical Engineering. Computer Science. Medical Science. Writing Tutorials. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

I had not misheard. It was real! Palm of my hand, soles of my feet. LitCharts Teacher Editions. Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does. Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on LitCharts.

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Sign in. From the creators of SparkNotes, something better. Literature Poetry Lit Terms Shakescleare. Download this LitChart! Question about this poem? But this poem does not hint towards the possibility of such dialogue. The open-ended structure of the poem represents the uncertain future of the blacks. It is certain how long they have to plead like that. Wole Soyinka has mainly used two literary devices to deliver the message of anger and frustration towards the racial discrimination at the micro level of the society.

One is imagery; "lipstick coated, gold rolled cigarette holder piped" is the mental image of the lady made by the African speaker by just listening to her voice on the phone. His attitude towards her is that she is socially superior than him and from a higher strata.

The image of a huge bus crushing the black tar is highly symbolic of how the major White community dominates and insults the minor African community. He becomes so angry when she further asks about the darkness of his colour to confirm his identity that he sees red everywhere. The other important poetic device is irony, that the poet uses in the poem.

The irony lies in the fact that the lady has given an ad about the flat stating that the price is reasonable and indifferent. Indifferent in the case of colour of the skin of any people, but when the African room seeker confesses about his identity, she holds silence and does not respond to him. Her words and action do not match.