The expression “nothing remained but self-confession” implies that he has committed a crime, being black is something that should be confessed. The image of a telephone box reinforces the idea of confession because the reader could take the telephone box to represent a catholic confession box.
The land lady immediately discriminates but her “pressurised good breeding” prevents her from insulting the man openly…..her manner of speech to him however, allows the reader to see that she dislikes him and she has pre-judged him because of his skin colour. The poet puts what the lady says in capital letters, this suggests that she thinks of him as inferior, she thinks she needs to speak clearly so he will understand her. To the land lady, he is either black or white, light or dark “button A or button B” but to him it is his identity “west African sepia” and his skin colour is part of his history and racial background, it is important to him but she doesn’t think it is. This highlights her ignorance.
"You will be hearing from us shortly" by comparison uses a very different style in the form of an interview, the dialogue is one sided. Only the interviewer speaks in an insulting, aggressive style. Repetition of the pronoun “we” represents the power and backing of his company and further intimidates the interviewee. The interviewee is too frightened to speak because the discrimination is unfair and was not expected. Does the interviewee have nothing valid to say? The lack of communication from the interviewee allows the reader to take the place of the interviewee. This style of writing allows the reader to feel what it would be like to be insulted in this way, this increases the empathy of the reader with the interviewee. The use of the pronoun “you” further puts the reader in the place of the interviewee because it seems to the reader that the interviewer is addressing them personally.
Short statements aligned to the right of the page in between stanzas like “Ah” make the reader pause to read before progressing to the next stanza. The statements do not appear to make sense with what the interviewer is saying in the previous stanza. It could be that the interviewee tries to respond but is cut off by the interviewer mid-sentence. The interviewer does not think the interview is worth wasting time on.
Comments like “might they perhaps, find your appearance disturbing” are blatantly unfair and would never be said in a normal interview, the discriminating comments also become much more obvious and direct as the poem goes on. This gives the interview a sense of surrealism and makes the discrimination seem out of place. In such a way the author encourages the reader to think that discrimination is out of place and wrong in society.
In "Telephone Conversation" the discriminator is shown to be ignorant and stupid. She uses monosyllabic words and simple vocabulary in her questions, “WHAT’S THAT?, DON’T KNOW WHAT THAT IS”. Wole Soyinka writes from personal experience, he hates discrimination so he makes a connection between ignorance and discrimination. The woman is ignorant, she assumes the man is stupid because he is black when the opposite is clearly evident and judges the man on the colour of his skin. Ironically the man is intelligent and is prepared for discrimination from the land lady, he uses his superior intelligence to mock her. “like plain or dark chocolate” but she does not understand him because his vocabulary is more advanced “soles of my feet are a peroxide blonde” she is left confused “begging simplification”. By comparison in “you will be hearing from us shortly” the discrimination is not expected at all and the interviewee is not prepared for it. The interviewee is unable to make a joke of it .
He portrayed as more intelligent than the land lady but she does not realise this so she uses his colour as a defence against his intelligence. She dismisses his comments and obvious intelligence because he is black, this is clear to the reader because she still speaks in capital letters even after he has proved his intelligence in his manner of speech “THAT’S DARK ISN’T IT?”.
In “you will be hearing from us shortly” by comparison, the discriminator (interviewer) uses very accurate standard English to sarcastically and subtly insult the interviewee. The comments are almost hidden in the formal structure and style of the interviewer’s speech. The poet does not show him as stupid but the opposite. The poet makes him seem unreasonable and unfair and the way in which the reader is made to take the interviewee’s place make the reader understand how insulting his comments are. The reader would also be surprised by the level of abuse given.
These two poems use contrasting forms and styles to illustrate a common theme of prejudice and discrimination and both effectively convey there message. “You Will Be Hearing From Us Shortly” allows the reader to take the place of the interviewee and realise how unfair the discrimination the interviewer shows is, this challenges the reader to question his/her own views on prejudice and discrimination. In “Telephone Conversation” Wole Soyinka uses the poem to associate discrimination with something used as a defence by less intelligent people. Wole Soyinka uses this comparison to challenge the readers views on discrimination and prejudice.
