Grade-10-English-Telephone-Conversation-Notes.pdf, Exams of English

Download Grade-10-English-Telephone-Conversation-Notes.pdf and more Exams English in PDF only on Docsity! GRADE 10 POETRY : TERM TWO ‘TELEPHONE CONVERSATION’ Telephone Conversation Akinwande Oluwole Babatunde Soyinka (born 13 July 1934) The price seemed reasonable, location Indifferent. The landlady swore she lived Off premises. Nothing remained But self-confession. ‘Madam’ , I warned, ‘Thate a wasted journey - Lam African. Silence. Silenced transmission of pressurized good-breeding. Voice, when it came, Lipstick coated, long gold-rolled Cigarette-holder piped. Caught I was, foully. "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 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?’ Her accent was clinical, crushing in its light Impersonality. Rapidly, wave-length adjusted I chose. 'West African sepia'_and as afterthought. "Down in my passport.’ Silence for spectroscopic Flight of fancy, till truthfulness chaged her accent 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. 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 See for yourself?"  FORM AND STRUCTURE – Free verse. The lack of structure represents spontaneity and the realism of the conversation. Also, a conversation is not something planned. There is a 1st person narrative voice. Poet makes use of caesura – this refers to the abrupt stops; this represents the disgust of the speaker, drawing attention to how horrible the woman was. The central idea of the poem : Ridicules the social evil and human weakness of racial prejudice. Content ‘Telephone Conversation’ depicts a conversation between a white lady and an African American man which casts a harsh light on racism and prejudice which grips society. The title reveals that two people are speaking on the phone. The beginning of the poem is on a positive note. Also remember, using the phone is used to prove how nonsensical racism actually is, had the person been speaking face to face with the lady, this whole conversation would never have taken place. She would have either refused outright or would have found a more subtle way of doing so. Lines 1-3 The man is searching for a house and the landlady has requested a considerable price, the area where it is located is not racially prejudiced (“location indifferent”) The man could also enjoy his privacy as the landlady does not live under the same roof. Lines 4-5 “Self-confession” – this is ironic because one would normally confess if you have done something wrong and you’re admitting to it. Here, the man has done nothing wrong. “I hate a wasted journey – I am African” – this suggests that he had a similar experience in the past for he stops and admits that he is black saying he prefers not to waste the time travelling there if she’s going to refuse him on that bounds. Remember, the colour of his skin is something that he has no control over. Lines 6-7 There is silence on the other end – the black man thinks that the lady is just being polite but we see that he is wrong.