English LiteratureISC Class 12 · Chapter 7

ISC Class 12 Telephone Conversation (Wole Soyinka): Analysis, Themes and Solved Questions

Updated 14 October 2026 · Fact-checked

Telephone Conversation by Wole Soyinka records a phone call in which an African man looking for a room tells a white landlady that he is dark-skinned. Her questions about the colour of his skin expose the absurdity of racial prejudice, and his replies turn from politeness to bitter sarcasm. ISC asks about racism, tone and irony.

What Telephone Conversation is about

Telephone Conversation by Wole Soyinka, the Nigerian writer who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986, is one of the five Class XII poems in Rhapsody: A Collection of ISC Poems, prescribed for ISC Literature in English (English Paper 2).

The poem presents a telephone call between a man seeking accommodation and a white landlady. Before going to see the place, the speaker makes a 'self-confession': he is African, dark-skinned. Her response, a question about the colour of his skin, turns a practical call into an exposure of racial prejudice.

It has been set in every 2025 paper. The specimen asked what the metaphor 'stench of rancid breath' is used to do (evoke repulsion and disgust), why the speaker resented being asked about the colour of his skin, and set a 5-mark question on how his cultural background clashes with the landlady's expectations. The 2025 board paper asked why the speaker makes a 'self-confession' and a 10-mark question: 'The poem… does not unite but separates the two individuals… Analyse the statement.' The examiners listed racism in Telephone Conversation as a difficult topic and found that 'most candidates merely provided a bland summary' with no references to specific lines.

The poem is in copyright, so this page does not reproduce it. Points below are taken from the CISCE 2025 specimen key and the 2025 marking scheme; read the poem in Rhapsody and collect your own short quotations.

Weightage: Question 5 (Rhapsody) carries 20 marks. Telephone Conversation supplied the 10-mark option (a) and a reason completion in 2025, and a 5-mark question, an MCQ and a reason completion in the specimen.Source: CISCE ISC Specimen Question Paper 2025, English Paper 2; 2025 board paper in the ISC Analysis of Pupil Performance 2025, Literature in English

Telephone Conversation: explanation

In our own words, in the order of the text. Read the NCERT text itself too: the board quotes from it.

The situation. The speaker, an African man, is looking for accommodation and telephones a landlady. Before going to see the place, he makes a 'self-confession': he tells her that he is African, that is, dark-skinned.

Why he confesses. The 2025 marking scheme suggests several reasons: he felt his dark skin would be an impediment in his search for a room from a white landlady; he had probably faced rejection before and had been made to feel guilty, as if his dark skin were 'a heinous crime'; and he did not want to take the trouble of visiting the place only to be turned away.

The landlady's reaction. The landlady responds by asking about the colour of his skin. The 2025 specimen quotes the poem's metaphor 'stench of rancid breath', which, according to the specimen key, evokes 'a strong sense of repulsion and disgust'. Locate it in your Rhapsody text and link it to the feelings the call provokes.

The speaker's response. At first his tone is humble and appeasing; he tries to reach across to her. But being asked to classify his skin like a product makes him resentful, because being judged by colour is ignorant, dehumanising, unfair and insulting (specimen key). He turns to bitter sarcasm and irony, mocking the absurdity of her questions.

The end of the call. The conversation does not lead to understanding; it pushes the two apart. According to the 2025 scheme, she 'cuts him off by slamming the phone'.

Meaning. The title is ironic: a conversation should help people understand each other, but this one, held between two people who cannot see each other, only reveals prejudice. The poem uses irony and pathos to show 'the illogical nature of racial prejudice' (2025 examiners).

Themes and message

Racial prejudice and its absurdity

The landlady judges a stranger solely by the colour of his skin, and her insistence on degrees of darkness exposes how irrational colour prejudice is. The examiners asked teachers to show 'how the poem mocks the illogical nature of racial prejudice'.

From the text: 2025 examiners' suggestions; specimen Q5(i): 'The undertones of racial and colour bias in the conversation'.

Communication that divides

A conversation should create understanding. Here the two speakers cannot see each other and rely on words, tone and inflection; the call ends in separation. The 2025 scheme: 'The conversation actually does not lead to any understanding but pushes them apart.'

From the text: 2025 Question 5(iii)(a) marking scheme.

Dignity and resistance through wit

The speaker, made to feel guilty for his skin, resists not by anger but by irony and sarcasm, turning the landlady's absurd questions against her and keeping his dignity.

From the text: 2025 scheme: 'He then resorts to bitter sarcasm.'

Internalised guilt

That the speaker must 'confess' his colour shows how prejudice makes its victims feel guilty, as though dark skin were a crime.

From the text: 2025 reason completion: he had 'probably been made to feel that his dark skin was a heinous crime'.

The speaker and the people in the poem

The speaker

An African man seeking accommodation by telephone.

Polite, humble and appeasing at first.
Sensitive and hurt by the question about his colour.
Witty and sarcastic: he answers absurdity with irony.
Self-respecting: he exposes her prejudice rather than accepting it.

2025 scheme, Question 5(iii)(a).

The landlady

A white landlady with a room to let.

Prejudiced: she judges by skin colour.
Downright, harsh, indifferent and insensitive in tone.
Rude and derogatory: she ends the call abruptly.

2025 scheme: 'the lady's is downright, harsh, indifferent, rude, insensitive, derogatory'.

Poetic devices

Device	Example	Effect
Irony (including an ironic title)	The title 'Telephone Conversation' for an exchange that produces no understanding.	Highlights how communication fails when prejudice intervenes.
Metaphor and sensory imagery	'stench of rancid breath' (quoted in the 2025 specimen).	Evokes 'a strong sense of repulsion and disgust' (specimen key).
Sarcasm	The speaker's replies to the questions about his colour.	Mocks the absurdity of colour classification and preserves his dignity.
Dramatic dialogue	The poem is built as a two-voice phone exchange.	Lets tone and inflection carry meaning, since the speakers cannot see each other.

Key quotations

Short lines worth knowing by heart: who says them, when, and why they matter.

stench of rancid breath
The speaker: A metaphor in the poem (the phrase is printed in the 2025 specimen); locate it in your Rhapsody text.
Evokes a strong sense of repulsion and disgust.

Telephone Conversation in real life

Each concept, met in an everyday situation. Read the situation, answer the question in your own words, then compare with the model answer. The one-line hook is what to remember.

Discrimination in housing

Suppose a student moving to a new city is told by a landlord, after hearing his surname or seeing his photo, that the flat is 'no longer available'.

How does the poem illuminate this experience?

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

The tenant is judged by identity, not by ability to pay or behaviour.
The rejection is often indirect or disguised.
The victim may feel he must 'confess' in advance.

Answer: The poem shows how such prejudice reduces a person to one feature and makes the victim feel guilty. Recognising it as unfair, not as the victim's fault, is the first step to challenging it.

Memory hook: Judge the tenant, not the skin.

Colourism

Imagine a family advertisement seeking a 'fair' bride or groom.

What would Soyinka's poem say about grading people by shade?

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

The landlady grades skin like a product.
The poem shows this as absurd and dehumanising.
The same logic underlies colourism.

Answer: Grading human worth by skin shade is as illogical as the landlady's questions; the poem's irony exposes it.

Memory hook: Shade is not worth.

Responding to prejudice with dignity

Suppose someone makes a prejudiced remark about your accent in a group chat.

What response does the speaker model?

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

Stay composed.
Use reason or wit to expose the remark's absurdity.
Do not accept the guilt it tries to impose.

Answer: The speaker uses calm irony to show the absurdity of prejudice while keeping his self-respect.

Memory hook: Answer absurdity with wit, not shame.

Topics in this chapter

Self-Confession, Sarcasm and Separation (Telephone Conversation)

How the board asks Telephone Conversation

The question patterns to expect, and the method that works for each.

Question type	How it is asked	Method
Section A: MCQ on imagery	'In the poem Telephone Conversation, the potent metaphor stench of rancid breath is used to:' (specimen; answer: evoke a strong sense of repulsion and disgust).	Read images for the feeling they create, not literally (not a real smell in the phone booth).
Section A: reason completion	'…the speaker on the phone makes a self-confession because ____' (2025); '…the speaker resented the landlady asking him about the colour of his skin because ____' (specimen).	Self-confession: his dark skin might be an impediment; past rejection; guilt imposed on him. Resentment: being judged by colour is ignorant, dehumanising, unfair, insulting.
Section B: racism, tone and separation (5 or 10 marks)	'In what ways does the speaker's cultural background clash with the landlady's expectations?' (specimen, 5 marks); 'The poem… does not unite but separates the two individuals… Analyse the statement' (2025, 10 marks).	Analyse with references to specific lines: the confession, her reaction and questions, the contrast in tones, his sarcasm, the ending. Avoid a bland summary.

Tricks to remember Telephone Conversation

Short memory aids. Say each one aloud once, then use it on a question the same day.

C-R-Q-S-E
Confession, Reaction (hers), Question (his colour), Sarcasm, End of call.
Use it when: The sequence of the poem.
Two tones
His: humble → sarcastic. Hers: harsh, indifferent, rude.
Use it when: Tone contrast questions.
Why confess? F-P-G
Fear of rejection, Past experience, Guilt imposed.
Use it when: The 2025 reason completion.

Telephone Conversation: board-level solved questions

Ordered from board level to HOTS. Cover the solution, write your own, then compare step by step.

Example 1: MCQ: 'stench of rancid breath' (specimen) · 1 mark · MCQHarder board level

In the poem Telephone Conversation, the potent metaphor 'stench of rancid breath' is used to:
(a) evoke a strong sense of repulsion and disgust.
(b) describe bad odour in the telephone booth.
(c) create a toxic atmosphere.
(d) create a mental image of the lady with bad breath.

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

It is a metaphor, not a literal smell.
It creates a feeling (revulsion), which is what the key rewards.

Answer: (a) evoke a strong sense of repulsion and disgust.

Example 2: Reason completion: the self-confession (2025) · 1 mark · Very short answerHarder board level

Complete with a reason: In the poem, Telephone Conversation, the speaker on the phone makes a 'self-confession' because ________.

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

What does he fear? Rejection because of his colour.
Why? Past experience; guilt imposed by prejudice.

Answer: he felt his dark skin would be an impediment in getting accommodation from a white landlady; he had probably faced rejection before and been made to feel his colour was a crime, and did not want to make a wasted visit. (The 2025 examiners found most candidates did not understand the context of 'self-confession'.)

Example 3: 5-mark model: the clash of background and expectation (specimen) · 5 marks · Long answerHarder board level

In what ways does the speaker's cultural background clash with the landlady's expectations in the poem Telephone Conversation? Write 100-150 words, incorporating: (a) The speaker's conversation with the landlady (b) The undertones of racial and colour bias in the conversation.

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

(a) The confession, her reaction, her question about his colour, his replies.
(b) Colour as the only criterion; disgust; guilt; ending of the call.
Use specific lines from your Rhapsody text.

Answer: The speaker, an African looking for a room, confesses before visiting that he is African, expecting his colour to matter to a white landlady. His fear is confirmed. Her response is to ask about the colour of his skin, and the poem's image of a 'stench of rancid breath' evokes the disgust such prejudice provokes. The clash lies here: he presents himself as a tenant, while she sees only a colour to be classified. The undertones of racial bias are clear. Her question reduces a person to his skin, and his need to 'confess' shows how such prejudice makes its victims feel guilty. His humble tone gives way to sarcasm as he mocks the absurdity of grading colour, and the call ends without understanding, with the landlady cutting him off. (130 words)

Example 4: 10-mark model: a conversation that separates (2025) · 10 marks · Long answerHOTS / competency

The poem, Telephone Conversation, does not unite but separates the two individuals engaged in a telephone conversation. Analyse the statement in 200-250 words.

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

The idea of conversation; the ironic title; parties cannot see each other.
Contrast of tones: his humble, appeasing; hers harsh, indifferent, rude.
He tries to reach across; fails; turns to sarcasm.
She ends the call.
Conclusion: prejudice prevents communication. Refer to specific lines.

Answer: A conversation is normally a meeting of minds: people exchange views and come to understand each other. Soyinka uses the title ironically, for this telephone conversation drives the two speakers further apart.

On the telephone, neither can see the other, so each relies on words, tone and inflection to judge the other. The speaker uses this situation honestly. Afraid that his colour will matter, he confesses at once that he is African. The landlady could simply have discussed the room; instead, she questions him about the colour of his skin, and the poem's image of a 'stench of rancid breath' evokes the disgust such prejudice provokes.

The contrast in tone shows the gulf between them. The speaker is humble and appeasing at first; he tries to reach across to her. The landlady is downright, harsh, indifferent and insensitive: she is interested only in classifying his skin.

When courtesy fails, the speaker resorts to bitter sarcasm, mocking the absurdity of grading human beings by colour. His wit preserves his dignity but widens the distance between them, since she does not understand or does not care. Finally, the landlady cuts him off by ending the call.

Thus, the conversation produces no understanding, no room and no respect. It exposes the prejudice that stood between them from the start, showing that where racial bias exists, even direct communication cannot unite people; it can only reveal how far apart they are. (237 words)

Example 5: Reason completion: resentment (specimen) · 1 mark · Very short answerBoard level

Complete with a reason: In the poem, Telephone Conversation, the speaker resented the landlady asking him about the colour of his skin because ________.

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

What does the question do to him?
It judges him by colour alone.

Answer: being judged on the basis of skin colour was ignorant, dehumanising, unfair and insulting.

Where the marks are

How a typical answer is marked: the value points the examiner looks for and the marks each earns.

Question 5(iii)(a), 10 marks (2025): the conversation separates the two. Indicative split based on the scheme's points. (10 marks)

Step	Marks
The idea of conversation and the ironic title; reliance on words and tone	2
Contrast of tones with examples from the poem	3
His attempt to reach across, his sarcasm, her ending the call	3
Organisation, expression, specific line references and word limit	2

Where students lose marks in Telephone Conversation

The slips examiners see most often, and what to write instead.

Mistake: A bland summary instead of analysis
The 2025 examiners: 'Most candidates merely provided a bland summary instead of analysing the statement… Their answers also lacked references to specific lines or statements from the poem.'
Do this: Make each paragraph prove a part of the statement, with a short line from the poem.
Usually costs: Most of the 10 marks.
Mistake: Misunderstanding the 'self-confession'
The examiners said most candidates 'did not appear to understand the context of self-confession and the guilt of being dark skinned'.
Do this: Explain why he confesses: fear of rejection, past experience, guilt imposed by prejudice.
Usually costs: 1 mark in Section A; content marks in Section B.
Mistake: Reading the imagery literally
Options like 'bad odour in the telephone booth' tempt literal readers.
Do this: Ask what feeling the image creates.
Usually costs: 1 mark.
Mistake: Missing the irony and sarcasm
Students treat the speaker's replies as straightforward answers.
Do this: Explain how his replies mock the absurdity of colour classification.
Usually costs: Analysis marks.

Practice questions on Telephone Conversation

Write each answer on paper first. Open the hint only if you are stuck, and the answer only when you have finished.

Q1 · 1 mark · MCQBoard level
Which word best describes the speaker's tone at the start of the call, according to the 2025 marking scheme?
(a) Aggressive
(b) Humble and appeasing
(c) Indifferent
(d) Arrogant
Hint
His tone changes later.
Answer
(b) Humble and appeasing.
Q2 · 2 marks · Short answerHarder board level
Why is the title 'Telephone Conversation' ironic? Answer in about 50 words.
Hint
What should a conversation achieve?
Answer
A conversation should help people understand each other, but this one only reveals the landlady's prejudice and ends with them further apart. The telephone, which hides faces, should have made colour irrelevant; instead, colour becomes the only subject.
Q3 · 5 marks · Long answerHarder board level
Contrast the tones of the speaker and the landlady in 100-150 words, incorporating: • The speaker's tone and how it changes • The landlady's tone.
Hint
Use the scheme's adjectives with lines from your text.
Answer
Points: speaker humble, polite, appeasing at first, trying to reach across; then bitter, sarcastic and ironic, mocking the absurd questions while keeping his dignity; landlady downright, harsh, indifferent, rude, insensitive and derogatory, interested only in his colour, ending the call abruptly. Conclude that the contrast in tone reflects the moral contrast between them.
Q4 · 10 marks · Long answerHOTS / competency
'Telephone Conversation uses humour to make a serious point about racism.' Discuss in 200-250 words.
Hint
Irony, sarcasm and absurdity; pathos underneath.
Answer
Points: the ironic title; the absurdity of a landlady grading skin colour over the phone; the speaker's sarcastic replies turning the joke on her; the pathos of his need to 'confess'; the disgust in the 'stench of rancid breath'; the call ending without understanding; conclusion: humour exposes the illogical nature of prejudice more sharply than anger could. Refer to specific lines.
Q5 · 3 marks · Short answerHOTS / competency
Imagine the poem were narrated by the landlady. How might it differ? Answer in about 80 words.
Hint
The examiners suggested this activity.
Answer
She might present her questions as practical and reasonable, perhaps not even recognising them as prejudice; the speaker's sarcasm might seem rude to her. The change would show how prejudiced people justify themselves, and would make the reader see the irony from the other side, underlining Soyinka's point that prejudice is illogical.
Q6 · 1 mark · Very short answerHarder board level
Complete with a reason: The conversation fails to produce understanding because ________.
Hint
What does the landlady focus on?
Answer
the landlady judges the speaker only by the colour of his skin, so his politeness and later sarcasm cannot reach her, and she ends the call.

Test your recall

Answer in your head or on paper first, then open the card. Pulling an answer out of memory makes it stick far better than re-reading.

1.Who wrote Telephone Conversation?Show answer
Wole Soyinka.
2.Why does the speaker telephone the landlady?Show answer
He is looking for accommodation.
3.What does 'stench of rancid breath' convey?Show answer
A strong sense of repulsion and disgust (specimen key).
4.Why does the speaker resent the question about his colour?Show answer
Being judged by skin colour is ignorant, dehumanising, unfair and insulting.
5.How does the conversation end?Show answer
Without understanding; the landlady cuts him off.

Quick revision checklist

The night before the exam: can you do each of these without looking?

Can you explain why the speaker makes a 'self-confession'?
Can you contrast the two tones with examples?
Can you explain the ironic title?
Can you analyse the 'stench of rancid breath' image?
Have you collected four short quotations from your Rhapsody text?

Telephone Conversation: frequently asked questions

What is Telephone Conversation about?

An African man seeking a room tells a white landlady he is dark-skinned; her questions about his colour expose racial prejudice, and he responds with sarcasm.

What is the tone of the poem?

Ironic and sarcastic, with underlying pathos; the speaker begins politely and becomes bitterly mocking.

Why is the poem called Telephone Conversation?

The title is ironic: the call should help them understand each other but only reveals prejudice and separates them.

Why are there so few quotations on this page?

The poem is in copyright, so this page uses only the phrase printed in the CISCE specimen. Collect short quotations from your Rhapsody text.

Based on: CISCE ISC 2027 Appendix I: Rhapsody: A Collection of ISC Poems (Evergreen Publications); CISCE ISC Specimen Question Paper 2025: English Paper 2 (Literature in English), with answer key; CISCE ISC Analysis of Pupil Performance 2025: Literature in English (board paper, marking scheme, examiners' comments)