Gemperle, Jose Fernando C.

21st Century Literature

STEM Mr. Glenn Beleber

Occasional Paper no. 3

Telephone Conversation by Wole Soyinka

(Marxist Approach)

The poem was written by Wole Soyinka, a Nigerian playwright and poet, and was based on his
own experience. The story behind this poem is about a telephone conversation between a woman and a
man. The woman was pictured as a landlady who came from a higher social class and has white color of
skin, and the man as an African-American who is searching for a house and belongs to black community.

From the line “Madam, I warned, I hate a wasted journey- I am African”, it is given that the man’s
color is black for we know that most of Africans are dark, and he prefers not to waste time travelling as if
the landlady is going to refuse him. Thus, he used a telephone to communicate with her instead. However,
the lady is described as “lipstick coated, gold rolled cigarette-holder pipped”, just from listening to her
voice as she speaks to the man. She then disregards all the formalities by asking how dark the man is.
Therefore, it shows how inconsiderate she is since she assumes that the man’s skin color is black and asks
directly the question “HOW DARK?” is he without seeing him but knowing that he’s African. Nevertheless,
despite of the landlady’s insensitiveness, she is continuously portrayed in positive terms, suggesting that
she is of good breeding and upper class.

Hence, it depicts the distinction between the two social classes: white community (upper class)
and black community (lower class). The poem’s message retains universal for us, as it conveys how
ridiculous the racism and prejudice are, towards our society in today’s world by highlighting the landlady’s
poor choice of rejecting the man just because of his dark color. Additionally, in this manner, it is simply
shown that people who belong in white community treat those who are in black unfairly and injudiciously.