Telephone Conversation Wole Soyinka
Unit – 4 Telephone Conversation Wole Soyinka Summary of the poem “Telephone Conversation” is a poem by the Nigerian writer Wole Soyinka that exposes racism. The poem describes a telephone conversation between a landlady and the speaker, who is black, about renting an apartment. The opening line shows that the black man is aware of the double standards. He makes a phone call to confirm if the room is truly available for a black man. It also reveals that the black man has had bitter experiences in the past. At first the landlady seems ready to move forward with renting to the speaker, even swearing that she lived off premises. But when the speaker makes a “self-confession” about being “African,” she is shifting the conversation abruptly to a discussion of skin tone.T he landlady demands to know how "light" or "dark" the speaker's skin is. In response, the speaker cleverly mocks the landlady’s ignorance and prejudice, demonstrating th...