During the course of the dialogue, the man gets to know the premises. Then the moment comes when the man makes up his mind to consider the offer. But in the midst of his conversation, he mentions that he is black.
At the other end of the line there is nothing but silence. The African man notices the abrupt silence and he takes it to be an impolite gesture of refusal. However, the silence is soon broken as the landlady starts to speak again and asks him to explain exactly how dark he is.
At first, the man thinks that he might, have misheard the question but when the landlady repeats the same, he understands that it is something very important for her to know before she allows him to rent her house. This turns to be entirely devastating for the man.
At that moment he feels disgusting with the question and fancies himself to be a machine, like a phone. He reduces to being a button on that phone. The idea behind the poem Telephone Conversation is to depict how brutal and devastating it can be for a man who is subjected to racial discrimination.
The man replies that it is almost similar to being a dark brunette. The African man now shouts out loud saying that he is black but he is not that black for anyone to be put to shame. He also says that the soles of his feet and the palms of his rear are black as a result of friction. He knows that the landlady will never be convinced with his black complexion and he senses that she might slam down the receiver anytime.
At such a crucial juncture, he makes a desperate and silly attempt pleading her to come and take a good look at him but could not prevent the situation from getting better. Finally the landlady slams down the receiver on his face. The poem reflects the conflict between the black and the white landlady.
The poem points at the absurdity of racism. Pooja T. A HEE. Sahyadri Arts College. Siddarth 25 October at Unknown 3 March at It was also an act of defiance. Although the poem reflects the age it was written in, the issue of basic racism hasn't gone away, making this rather light-hearted poem all the more poignant. These buttons A and B had to be pressed by the caller in old-fashioned British public pay phone booths and boxes.
All British telephone booths in the s, along with pillar boxes for the mail and double-decker buses, were painted bright red. Tar is the road tarmac surface. The opening line takes the reader straight into an already existent conversation, the thoughts of a person engaged in some sort of negotiation over price. Here we have someone talking to themselves, weighing things up.
The price is reasonable. And the location—the whereabouts—is indifferent. That is an unusual word to use but rings true when looked at objectively. Indifferent means to be free of judgement one way or the other.
In light of the theme of this poem, that has some gravitas. It seems of importance that the landlady lived off premises. She swore, that is, she told the absolute truth honest to God, hand on the Bible or anything else used as a touchstone in a court of law or ritual. Was this stipulated by the caller? She must live at some other address? OK, so there's the small matter of confessing.
Is the caller a criminal, has the caller committed a crime already? Together with a warning. There's a polite address. There follows complete silence as the landlady's thoughts and feelings go round and round the racism tree.
The speaker uses active words to get this feeling over, coupled with class distinction for good measure. He we can assume it's a he sees the landlady, gold cigarette holder in lipsticked-mouth, her classy gears going through the motions, pressure building. She's obviously from good-breeding whatever that means , in contrast to the caller, who is presumably from the common herd?
B, Button A. Revelation came. Silence for spectroscopic Friction, caused See for yourself? Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. 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. This silence reflects her indifference and reservation towards the blacks.
She further inquiries about his colour as she conforms him as the black she hangs up the phone. This incident reflects the discrimination suffered by the blacks. In words, the landlady has not said anything, not has she denied his request. She just hangs up the phone which is her choice. She chooses not to listen to him any longer. This poem was written at the moment when the blacks were given the equal rights and responsibilities constitutionally and politically famously known as Apartheid.
Despite these rights at the macro-level of the society, micro changes are hard to achieve. Racial discrimination does not end until the land lady is changed personally.
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