Discrimination In Telephone Conversation, Othello, By Wole Soyinka

Even the most influential, powerful and intelligent people are looked down upon because of the color of their skin. In William Shakespeare’s classic, Othello, and Wole Soyinka’s poem, Telephone Conversation, we follow two protagonists who undergo constant racial prejudices. Othello, being set in the sixteenth century, depicts a religious black man who is often tormented by the thought that his affluent white wife, Desdemona, is unchaste. On the other hand, Telephone Conversation, being set in the mid 1900s, follows a black man hoping to purchase a home from a white landlady. Although the situation doesn’t end well, the poem suggests that the author intentionally wrote the poem circulating the theme of discrimination against people of color

A black man, over the telephone line, tries to buy shelter from a white landlady whose “lipstick [is coated]” with a “long gold-rolled cigarette-holder pipped.” The color gold signifies wealth and class, suggesting that the landlady comes from an affluent family. Often speaking in a patronizing and condescending tone, one phrase in particular, “Omnibus squelching tar,” symbolizes white supremacy and black inferiority where the bus signifies the white race and the tar signifies the black race. The fact that Soyinka decided to use the word, “squelching,” proves to be significant in determining the phrase’ interpretation. Squelch can be interpreted in multiple ways, two of the most important being, a “sucking sound such as that made by walking heavily through mud” and to “forcefully silence or suppress.” The bus trampling heavily through the tar directly links to whites forcefully silencing or suppressing people of color. The westernized society is oppressing the black man as well as people of color, continually pushing blacks to the side from opportunity and equality. Soyinka emphasizes racial segregation through symbolizing the dominant white community treating the minor black community

William Shakespeare’s Othello wrestles with constant racial discrimination, following a black Moor who becomes paranoid by the thought that his both socially and physically affluent wife, Desdemona, has cheated on him with his white best friend. Similarly, Wole Soyinka’s Telephone Conversation follows a black man endeavoring continual racial prejudices, while hoping to purchase a home from a white landlady. Although ultimately ending in a disaster, the author presents a poem circulating the theme of discrimination against people of color to encourage others to undertake social change. Although the protagonists are influential, powerful and intelligent people who defy stereotypes and constantly retaliate racial discrimination, they come to realize that they have no chance of eradicating society’s act of