Wole Soyinka 'Very Nice' Telephone Conversation

Okay, guys, I am back here once again. Of course, this time I have another poem for ya. Gosh, this poem is really confusing! What the heck are they talking about? Worse still, I can't believe we still have to answer questions which I myself don't even understand too! Oh well, here they are.

Telephone Conversation by Wole Soyinka:

The price seemed reasonable, location
Indifferent. The landlady swore she lived
Off premises. Nothing remained
But self-confession. “Madam,” I warned,
5 “I hate a wasted journey—I am African.”
Silence. Silenced transmission of
Pressurized good-breeding. Voice, when it came,
Lipstick coated, long gold-rolled
Cigarette-holder pipped. Caught I was, foully.

10 “HOW DARK?” . . . I had not misheard . . . “ARE YOU LIGHT
OR VERY DARK?” Button B. Button A. Stench
Of rancid breath of public hide-and-speak.
Red booth. Red pillar-box. Red double-tiered
Omnibus squelching tar. It was real! Shamed
15 By ill-mannered silence, surrender
Pushed dumbfoundment to beg simplification.
Considerate she was, varying the emphasis—

“ARE YOU DARK? OR VERY LIGHT?” Revelation came.
“You mean—like plain or milk chocolate?”
20 Her assent was clinical, crushing in its light
Impersonality. Rapidly, wavelength adjusted,
I chose. “West African sepia”—and as an afterthought,
“Down in my passport.” Silence for spectroscopic
Flight of fancy, till truthfulness clanged her accent
25 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
30 Are a peroxide blonde. 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
35 See for yourself?”

Q1: This poem is full of colours not just that of skin, what do you think these colours signify?
Q2: What does the dialogue in this poem reveal about these two characters?
Q3: The poet dramatises a battle, who wins finally and why?

Ans1: These colours signify a whole lot of things, even the personalities of the characters. We can see how the landlady said, "ARE YOU DARK? OR VERY LIGHT?". This goes to show that she was a bit on the 'high' side, or agitated. They even use the colours to signify the "plain or milk chocolate". This gives the readers a better view of the whole thing that colours were what mattered in the past as it represents your life status.

Ans2: The dialogue show us the true personality of the two characters and their backgrounds. We can easily tell that the landlady is a white and is a racist person due to the fact that she was very reluctant to take in the African lady. She even asked her whether she was dark or light skinned. The African lady, on the other hand, was very polite and a calm person. She did not even fight back when the landlady was discriminating her.

Ans3: The landlady won in the end. Mainly because we can see that she had slammed the phone down before the African lady could explain herself. This goes to show that coloured people are still being discriminated and are often not taken seriously. The moment the landlady knew that she was speaking to an African Negro, she hung up straight away.


Okay. So, that's what I got for this very poem. In fact, I feel like thrashing the landlady up. What a racist person. If you don't mind, I would like to call her an idiot. Even now, the whites are still discriminating the Africans. Not only that, we Asian, are discriminated too! They call us the 'yellow people'. Aargh! I wanna thrash them up! Oh well, I guess that's life. May more posts come your way!