Telephone Conversation Notes

2010

1. The poem starts with a somewhat peaceful atmosphere befitting the poetic personas satisfaction for having found the correct house The price seemed reasonable, location indifferent. He was also happy about the privacy that he believed that he would enjoy, for The landlady swore she lived / Off premises. At this stage, we get to know that the two were engaged in a telephone conversation, which, however, was to come quickly to an unpleasant end as the man decided to reveal his nationality - Madam, I warned. / I hate a wasted journey I am African. A sudden, unexpected hush of silence is strengthened by a pause in line 6 of the poem to emphasize the impact of the Africans race being revealed to the landlady. Furthermore, the poets use of the word confession to describe an announcement of the personas racial identity is very sarcastic in that being an African seems to be a sin which the persona committed, and which he needed to atone for. An uneasy atmosphere results thereby. Following the pause, there is Silenced transmission of / Pressurized good-breeding, with the word silenced again to recap the landladys sudden change, as well as the mans sensitivity towards the unfriendliness on the other end of the phone. There is a foreboding overtone, relevant to the change of the womans attitude she would have towards the African man. And we get the first indication of the poets sense of humour in the expression [p]ressurized good-breeding, too, which is an ironical sign of the polite manners the landlady was supposed to have for the job of renting premises. 2. After a considerable period of silence, the landlady finally spoke again, Voice, when it came / Lipstick coated, long gold-rolled / Cigarette-holder pipped. It is interesting to note that when the landlady opened her mouth again, the feeling she gave off is immediately contrastive of what she was like before, as if her status in society was all of a sudden upgraded, which is indicated by her voice being colourfully described. Tension rises with the openly racial discrimination in line 10 of the poem as the landlady asked HOW DARK? The poet uses capital letters here, and a lot more to come, to accentuate the landladys effort in seeking clarification for something that would have been irrelevant to their previous topic, yet it mattered a lot to her. I had not misheard, the persona reflected. Before he was able to respond, the landlady asked again, ARE YOU LIGHT OR VERY DARK? reinforcing the racist overtone in

Telephone Conversation Notes

2010

the English society today. The womans pushy, clear stance in pursuing the answer dumbfounded the man, who was so confused and so taken aback by the landladys sudden change of attitude that he suddenly appeared to have a blank mind. The automation imagery Button B. Button A that the poet uses here not only vividly shows the mans temporary confusion, but also humorously foreshadows the intelligence contest that is to follow. On a deeper level, the image of the readily available automatic selection also implies the out of control racial discrimination taken for granted in the western society. 3. What makes him come to his senses from this sudden dumbfoundedness, however, is ironically the foul smell of the telephone booth, which the persona humorously refers to as a facility of childrens play. Stench of rancid breath of public hideand-seek dragged him out from his dream-like world back into reality. The poet then uses sentence fragments, Red booth. Red pillar-box. Red double-tiered / Omnibus squelching tar, to describe the personas frantic attempt to process the situation. The diction red, which is connotative of terror and disturbance, is used three times to highlight the extreme mental discomfort of an African man. Such extensive use of symbolic images points out the setting of this poem, for the first and only time, to be London. This is real! the personas exclamation only serves to emphasis his bewilderment at the situation. 4. Instead of describing the understandable anger that the poetic persona was supposed to have felt at the moment, the poet chooses to characterize him as a pacifist (peace lover), or a humble and meek man who would rather not stand up to face the situation. The telephone conversation between the two conversationists continues as the African man hoped to get on with their previous topic instead of starting a new, awkward one on a politically sensitive issue Shamed / By ill-mannered silence, surrender / Pushed dumbfoundment to beg simplification. However, regardless of his thoughts, the landlady, who was clear in seeking the clarification, continues to question him, Considerate she was, varying the emphasis ARE YOU DAARK? OR VERY DARK? The African man, now probably fuming with anger inside, remained silent, while the ruthless landlady continued with her racist question: You mean like plain or milk chocolate? The limited

Telephone Conversation Notes

2010

choice of words as well as the simple object of comparison (plain or milk chocolate) that the poet uses to describe the landlady suggests her to be a poor character in languages despite her wealthy economic status. 5. Furthermore in lines 20-25 the landladys tone was cold and almost aggressive, as shown by the personas/ African mans account Her accent was clinical, crushing in its light impersonality . Deciding not to stay silent for any longer, the African man replied West African sepia and as afterthought down in my passport. There is a rapid change of pace here as the persona/ African man begins to react against the landladys racist comments leaving her dumbfounded with his choice of vocabulary. The double alliteration of s and f in silence for spectroscopic, Flight of fantasy create an almost fearful atmosphere, emphasising on the landladys mental status whos turn it was to now feel dumb founded.Also worth noting is the metaphor of spectroscope, hilariously befitting not only the skin colour of the persona, but also the specific setting of England, where modern science and technology still strangely mix with superstition. In either case, the instant victory he had over the landlady in this part of the conversation demonstrates the obvious difference in their education and knowledge, also illustrating the fact that beyond the landladys exterior, she was simply a shallow judgmental racist. The contrastive images that the poet has so far established of the persona of the African origin and the landlady of the western European society increase the tension in the atmosphere, precipitating the conflict to its climactic moment. 6. Although the African man had already provided an answer, the landlady did not understand as she was not only prejudiced, but also definitely under-educated, as compared to the poetic persona. She continued asking rudely, till truthfulness changed her accent / Hard on the mouthpiece WHATS THAT? conceding / DONT KNOW WHAT THAT IS. Paying no attention to the landladys disrespect for him, the persona started to turn the table completely against her, as he took a firm control over the conversation, defending the dignity and integrity of his racial identity from the ruthless attack of the racist landlady. To effectively show this, the poet juxtaposes various major European hair colours together in a deliberately confusing manner, suggesting that although being an African, the persona is nonetheless a person no different from any

Telephone Conversation Notes

2010

Europeans Facially, I am brunette, but, madam, you should see / The rest of me. Palm on my hand, soles of my feet / Are a peroxide blond. Priction, caused / Foolishly, madam by sitting down, has turned / My bottom raven black One moment, Madam! Sensing the landladys receiver rearing on the thunderclap, which indicates the landladys slow but finally furious realization that she had been outwitted, he rushed to ask sarcastically, Madam, wouldnt you rather / See for yourself? The shallow politeness of the tone the poet uses here can hardly conceal the ultimate insult, which shows how indignant the man was as he outwitted her by inviting her to see his bottom, thus ending the poem with a tremendous sense of humour, apart from the obvious sarcasm.