Upon asking her if she feels if she is up to the job, she now thinks that she is too overqualified.
“Your qualifications, though impressive are
Not, we must admit, precisely
What we had in mind”
This is another sign, which we could say that the interviewer doesn’t want the candidate to have the job. She says that the qualifications, the candidate has, are more than up to standards, but she feels that she is too overqualified. But can you really be too overqualified for a job?
At this point he interviewer is getting really insulting. She then questions the candidate about her age, which basically shows us that she is being prejudice. This is because she asks to make her own comment on her age, which would make us believe, that she doesn’t want to award the job to an over-aged person. At this point I feel that the candidate has already had enough of the interviewer’s sarcastic comments and it shows up that the interviewer is clearly offending the applicant, although, it doesn’t but should stop here.
If judging the age of the candidate just wasn’t enough, she takes it even further and judges the candidate on her appearance.
“And now a delicate matter: your looks”
The interviewer at this point has become obviously rude. While trying to softly say ‘she is ugly,’ she herself realises and knows that she is offending the candidate. The interviewer could have been polite about this matter, but she instead chooses the opposite and shows just how naïve and rude she can be. She again takes it even further by saying to the candidate ‘And you were born? This means she is trying to say that she should never have been born at all! This shows up how selfish, she can be and how she judges people because she clearly offends the candidate for looking and speaking differently, and also judging her because of her age. She deliberately, ignores all of the candidate’s answers to her own questions, which would simply mean, she only cares about herself and doesn’t care what others think.
The candidate’s voice is not heard in the poem. This would suggest that the candidate is scared of the interviewer. Mainly because she agrees, with everything the interviewer says, although most of what she says is insulting. In the end the candidate, admits defeat, by agreeing further to what, the interviewer says.
The powerful character in ‘Telephone Conversation’ is the landlady. She is very similar to the interviewer in ‘You’ll be hearing from us shortly.’ Although she doesn’t have full control of the interview, like the interviewer did in ‘You’ll be hearing from us shortly’ she still is being prejudice towards the man. The landlady could have probably looked more powerful, if she was telling the story as her voice isn’t heard much. The landlady isn’t a very kind person, and she says exactly what her mind thinks. This is seen when we see her how dark the man is.
“Are you light
Or very dark?”
She obviously tells us, that she doesn’t really want a dark man moving in. By asking how dark the man is, clearly is offending towards the man. We straightaway learn from this, that the landlady is racist .The landlady makes it obvious to the black man, that she is racist. This clearly wasn’t the same case as the interviewer, as she stated points, which eventually ended in the candidate realising that the interviewer was prejudice.
When the black man responds to the question of ‘how dark are you’, we can tell that the landlady isn’t too happy about the situation.
“THAT’S DARK, ISN’T IT?”
The poet maybe uses capital letters to symbolise the landlady shouting. This would show us that she is quite angry with the black man for being too dark. We all know that it isn’t the man’s fault for being that dark and I feel that the landlady feels this too, but she uses it as an excuse to be cruel towards the black man. This high-pitched tone is never used for the interviewer, which would suggest that the landlady is angry and the interviewer never got angry in the conversation, as she is always totally satisfied.
The black man is the victim of racism in the poem, but somehow he responds in a humorous way throughout the poem. He doesn’t really seem that bothered with the landlady’s racist comments. We first see this after the landlady asks how dork he is.
“Like plain or milk chocolate.”
Here the black man is being sarcastic towards the landlady. This shows us that the black man isn’t scared of being insulted, but instead shows us that the landlady is actually quite stupid, as she doesn’t realise that she is being mocked. This shows us that the man is actually quite intelligent and also could mean he has been insulted like this before as he reacted in a funny way. This man is unlike the scared and defenceless candidate we see in ‘You’ll be hearing from us shortly.’ This is because the black man had the courage to fight back, and the candidate just stood there and took offence from the interviewer.
Although the black man reacts quite well to the racist remarks, we know that he is shocked. We know this because anyone would be shocked if they were to phone up to rent a flat and then be in the centre of a racial feud.
The black man is able to make judgements of the landlady from the tone of her voice.
“Lipstick coated, long gold-rolled
Cigarette holder pipped.”
This shows us that the black man isn’t really prejudice, but has the ability to make a judgement for himself. By him saying ‘lipstick coated, long gold-rolled’ shows us that the landlady speaks in a posh accent, which could be the reason for her being naïve and arrogant.
Although the black man once seemed a little prejudice, we can still argue the fact that he isn’t a bad person. He is just trying to defend himself, while taking verbal abuse from the landlady. He once again mocks the landlady.
“Friction, caused -
Foolishly, madam – by sitting down, has turned
My bottom raven black”
We all know that the black man is only joking, but the landlady again, doesn’t realise this. The black man’s main weapon, which he uses to deal with prejudice and racism, is wit and humour. We don’t see the candidate respond in any way like this because, as we all know, she is scared. This however was never the case with the black man
In ‘Not my best side’ St George is the most powerful character. The only reason for this is because he defeated the dragon and saved the princess. From the first time he speaks we can tell that he is a bit of a show off.
“My horse is the latest model”
He brags to the princess about the things he has. He says his horse is the latest model, but we know his horse is in comparison to a car. St George isn’t like the landlady or the interviewer, as they don’t really have much to show off.
This ruthless man loves himself a bit too much.
“You can’t
Do better than me at the moment.”
He says that he is the best, which would result in him loving himself. This shows the true side of St George as it clearly points out the arrogance of him. Either the landlady or the interviewer is similar to St George at this point mainly because either of them doesn’t go on bragging about themselves on how good they are. They however instead, think they are better than the person they are both interviewing.
Being arrogant isn’t St George’s only flaw. At the same time he is also quite selfish.
“What, in any case, does it matter what
You want? You’re in my way”
This clearly shows us how selfish St George is and shows that all he cares about it rescuing the princess to become a hero. He only cares about himself and no one else. He instead cares about what others think about him.
St George is a stereotypical character.
“You want to carryout the roles
That sociology and myth have designed for you?”
St George believes in maintaining the stereotype of myths. This however is ironic, as we never see St George show any prejudice towards anyone, but we know that he is not a stereotypical character. St George is highly different to the landlady and the interviewer. He doesn’t judge anyone on appearance, although both the interviewer and landlady did. From this we can say that he is a unique character as nearly every prospect of him is different from the likes of the landlady and the interviewer.
In ‘Not my best side’ the dragon is the victim of the poem. This is ironic, as dragons are much more superior to humans and we’d expect that St George might have been. The dragon behaves in a mature way throughout the poem. But what the dragon is most concerned about is looking good.
“The artist didn’t give me a chance to
Pose properly”
From this we can simply say that the dragon is a poser. All he cares about is being perceived in the right light. The dragon is obsessed with his image. This is ironic, as we’d expect him to be upset after being defeated by St George. The dragon is unlike the candidate or the black man, as they are being discriminated against, and are both quite scared and the dragon isn’t at all scared. The reason for this is that the dragon was not in the same position of the other two. He’d been defeated and they had been a victim of prejudice and racism.
Throughout the whole of the poem all the dragon is concerned about is again, looking good.
“I was sorry for the bad publicity”
Here the dragon acts like an actor. By saying ‘bad publicity’ is what you’d expect of a famous person, who is concerned about public opinion. He speaks in quite a posh accent, which could makes us believe that he is intelligent and quite well educated.
What makes the dragon so different to the black man and the candidate is that he is prejudice.
“A horse with deformed neck and square hoofs?
Why should my victim be so
Unattractive as to be inedible”
The dragon is concerned with what the princess looks like. He wants to defeat an attractive princess. Again he is concerned about looks. But not for himself. This is a cutting comment towards the princess. As we know the dragon is the victim of the poem, but he acts like he is the hero. This is because he is only concerned with the less important things, although to him it is the complete opposite.
Of all the victims of the poems the black man responds in the best way as he fights to defend himself, while the candidate doesn’t say a word back to the interviewer after being clearly offended.
U A Fanthorpe uses excellent and compelling terms of language to tackle the issue of prejudice. The first time we see this in ‘You’ll be hearing from us shortly’
