IGOT, TRICIA MAE R.

BTVTED 3-K2

'TELEPHONE CONVERSATION'
By Wole Soyinka

Speaker:

- The African man

Setting:

- "Telephone Conversation" takes place in an unnamed country, presumably England.

Theme:

- Racism and xenophobia are the main themes explored by the poet in "Telephone Conversation."
Wole Soyinka attempts to raise awareness of the fact that, in an open-minded and educated
society, skin color should not matter.

Symbols:

- The color red is a key symbol in the poem, as it represents the man's growing rage after being
asked a racist question.
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- The omnibus (which means "for all" in Latin) represents white society's superiority and violence
in the face of the black minority.
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- The chocolate mentioned by the speaker, like the woman's questions, is a symbol of
superficiality.

Poetic devices:

- The poet employs satire, irony, sarcasm, imagery, pun, alliteration, and assonance among other
poetic devices to convey the white landlady's hypocrisy and racial discrimination to the reader.