Telephone Conversation Workbook Solution : ISC Rhapsody & Prism

The Poem in Detail

Lines 1 to 9

The poem begins with the telephonic conversation of the speaker with a potential landlady. The speaker is hoping to rent an apartment or a room. He finds the accommodation fine, as it is not too expensive and the location not bad either. Also, the landlady does not live on the premises. There is just one problem the speaker confesses. It is that he is ‘African.’

The speaker says that he has made this confession to avoid taking a trip to see the rental only to be turned down simply for being African. This shows he has had many such experiences where he has gone to see a dwelling place to be rejected only because of his skin colour.

In lines 6-9, the speaker goes on to describe the landlady’s initial response to the fact that he is African. She remains silent and there is a long, awkward pause while she ponders over the speaker’s ‘self-confession.’ In her silence, the speaker hears a ‘transmission’ from the landlady that is meaningful and carries a message. This means that since the landlady has a ‘good-breeding,’ she seems to be under pressure on how to deal with a person of African origin. Though she is well-bred, she is a racist, and her racism quickly wins over her manners.

The words ‘self-confession’ (line 4) and ‘caught’ (line 9) show that the man has faced racial discrimination because of the colour of his skin. It is an irony that he uses the word, ‘self-confession’ as he has done nothing wrong for which he should have to confess. Again, the word ‘caught’ connotes that some wrong had been done, and the speaker was caught committing something illegal. By making the man seem sorry for his skin colour, the poet shows how ridiculous it is for someone to apologise for the things he is not responsible for.

The speaker then describes how the landlady’s voice sounds after the pause when she responds to the speaker’s ‘self-confession.” Since she is ‘pipped,” her voice appears to be ‘coated’ in lipstick’, that is the landlady is trying to make herself sound good, to gloss over the deep racism and prejudice she has. From her voice, the speaker imagines that she is carrying ‘cigarette-holder’ that is ‘gold-rolled’, meaning gold plated; here it is symbolic of the wealth and privilege she has. The speaker finds that the landlady has a haughty, aristocratic voice, that displays the social and economic power she has in comparison to the speaker. The speaker feels he is caught in an unpleasant situation.

Lines 10 to 17

The landlady responds to the speaker’s ‘self-confession’ by demanding to know the speaker’s skin colour, asking if he is ‘LIGHT/ OR VERY DARK?’ The question appears to be inappropriate and deeply racist. The speaker is stunned and feels as if he is being asked to choose between ‘Button B’ and ‘Button A.’ This is a reference to the buttons on mid-twentieth century pay phones; pushing the B’ button would return the coins if whoever you were calling didn’t pick up the phone. The options offered by the landlady seems to be mutually exclusive: for the landlady, the speaker has to be either dark or light. For the speaker, there is no way to answer without acquiescing to the landlady’s racist binary.

In lines 11 and 12, the speaker describes the landlady’s ‘breath,’ calling it ‘rancid.’ Since they’re talking on the telephone, it is not possible for the speaker to literally smell her breath. It is a metaphor for the landlady’s racism that underlies her ‘good-breeding.’ The speaker is upset by her racism, makes it explicit with a pun by saying that the landlady is engaged in ‘hide-and-speak.’ Here, the speaker suggests that the landlady, like the children’s game of hide-and-seek, has been hiding her true feelings which she wants to speak about.

In lines 13-14,the speaker looks at objects surrounding him: the red phone booth, a red pillar-box (a standing mailbox used in the United Kingdom) and a red double decker bus. His description gives an image of where he is located: a public phone booth, probably somewhere in the UK. He realises that the question of colour is not new, it is already in existence. It is an inescapable part of his world and is as real as the red booth in which he is standing. Besides the literal images of red colour, the poet’s description also creates a sense of anger running through the mind of the speaker portrayed by the repeated use of the word ‘red’.

In lines 15-16, the speaker is dumbfounded by the landlady’s question. In fact he is so taken aback that he cannot talk, leave alone answer the question. The speaker feels ashamed of his inability to respond, because the ‘silence’ seems ill-mannered.” The speaker feels it is bad manners not to respond to the landlady’s question—even though he also feels that the question itself is deeply offensive. So the speaker ‘beg[s] simplification.” In other words, he asks the landlady to clarify the question. The speaker defines his act of remaining silent as ‘surrender’

In line 17, the speaker describes the landlady as ‘Considerate.” she However, is not considerate, she is only increasing the intensity of her racist question