This poem depicts a telephone conversation between a Nigerian man seeking to rent an apartment and a racist landlady. The landlady is obsessed with the man's skin color rather than the details of renting the apartment. The man responds to her questions about how dark his skin is with wit and irony, comparing his skin tone to chocolate. Though polite, his frustration is evident at being judged solely based on his race rather than as an individual. The poem critiques the superficiality and illogical nature of racism.

1. Topic: Telephone Conversation by Wole Soyinka
Paper: 14
Paper Name: The African Literature
Prepared by: Drashti Mehta
Roll No:7
PG Enrollment No:PG13101021
Sem:4
Gmail id: drashti.mehta.111993@gmail.com
Submitted to: Smt. S.B. Gardi, Department of English,
Maharaja Krishnakumarsinghji Bhavnagar University
Bhavnagar University
Bhavnagar(Gujarat-India)

2. • BornJuly 13, 1934
• Nigerianplaywright, poet
• Denounce the slogan of Negritude
as a tool of autocracy
• Awarded the Nobel prize in
Literature.

3. Poetic Satire
against the
widely –spread
racism in the
Modern
Western Society.
The poem is about the way people– fail to
communicate clearly about matters of race
First Person
Narrative’s Point of
view

4. Ridiculous question

5. Seems to be tired of his life conditioned by
racist prejudices.
Judging by the raw emotions that this poem
subtly convey…
…those of anger, rage, shame, humility and an
acute sense of disgust at the apathy and
inhumanity of humans who won’t judge a
book by its cover but would turn down a man
for the color of his skin.
Soyinka’s personal experience

6. Two characters
The Narrator
 The speaker
 Witty
 Intelligent
 Use of high diction and
quick wit
The Land lady
 Shallowly stubborn racist
 Lack of intellect
 Verbal irony, positive terms
 Seems to be undereducated
 Instead of discussing price,
location, amenities, and
other information
significant to the
apartment, she is interested
to discuss more about
speaker’s skin colour

7. Nationality as a persona
•Seeking to rent a
home- in England
•Identity as a Black
African
•Landlady completely
changes her attitude

8. Colour
• Raven Black Peroxide Blond Brunette
• It seems as if his crime is….his colour
• His remorse is solutionless
• To modern western thinkers, it seems almost
comical that anyone should be so submissive
when he has no wrongdoing

9. Telephone Booth & Silence
Means for conversation
Silence powerful issues that
need to be voiced, and the so
called civilized world, has
these…
Silence- the
consequence
of Land lady’s
sophisticated
upbringing
•An instrument that
primarily transmits
voices,
•A Medium for silence

10. A Universal Message
Prejudice-
ridiculous ideas
The superstitious
narrow-
mindedness of
caste and colour
Timeless
message

11. Contemporary time
• In Today’s world, racism might be a dying
concern; but that does not mean that
discrimination against other minorities has been
completely eradicated.
• Despite the progressing times, people continue to
harbor prejudices and illogical suspicions about
things they do not understand:
• May it be other ideals, religions or traditions and
customs

12. Red pillar box
“Red booth”,
Anger is hidden with seemingly
polite language
Repeated use of word “Red”
“ Red double-tiered/ Omnibus”
Sense of anger
huge bus squelching the black tar

13. Language
Limited choice of words
Imagery
Irony and Racism
Repetition

14. Irony and Racism
Absurdity
of racism
What
appears to
be- what
really is
• Puns, irony and
sarcasm
Verbal
irony
• Ironically the man
is ashamed by the
tense and
awkward silence

15. Limited choice of words
Simple object of comparison
Affluent economic status,
linguistically impoverished
character “You mean- like plain or milk
chocolate?”

16. Language; imagery
1)“Voice, when it came/ Lipstick coated,
long gold –rolled/ cigarette- holder
pipped.”
Poet’s imagination, higher social class.
2)Witticism and Ingenious sense of
Humor
“The Price seemed reasonable,
location indifferent”

17. • His reply,
• “West African Sepia…Down in my passport”, which was then
responded with the landlady’s
• “silence for spectroscopic /Flight of fancy”,
• Double alliteration of “s” and “f” produce a special sound effect,
makes the atmosphere fearfully spooky, landlady -dumbfounded.
Alliteration
Alliteration

18. “HOW DARK
ARE YOU LIGHT OR
VERY DARK”
I had not misheard,
“You mean like plain
or milk chocolate?”
This is the most apt response
as dark chocolate is certainly
more tempting than plain
chocolate.
Button B. Button A
automation
imagery
Repetition

19. Confusion
“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.”

20. Self-confession
• “Madam,” I warned,
“I hate the wasted journey- I am African”.
How can one apologize
for one’s race?
He has no reason to be
sorry for something
which he was born with
and has no control over
The speaker, a West
African Man, uses
words like “confession”
and “caught” yet he’s
done nothing wrong, he
just need a place to live

21. Conclusion
• In closing, he asks the then empty telephone
line, “Wouldn’t you rather/ See for yourself?”
• Speaker’s ignorance
• Readers know that the speaker offers to show
his backside to the racist landlady.
• It sounds as though he is asking whether the
landlady would like to meet him in person to
judge his skin color for herself