Question

3.

PART A: How does the speaker use irony when addressing the landlady and responding to

her questions?

A. The speaker appears polite in conversation with the landlady when in reality

they are making fun of her.

B.

The speaker goes out of their way to be polite and respectful to the landlady to

convince her to rent the property to them.

C. The speaker is polite and considerate to the landlady to draw attention to how

rude she is being to them.

D. The speaker is kind and respectful towards the landlady, hoping that it will cause

her to be friendlier towards them.

Answer 1

A. The speaker appears polite in conversation with the landlady when in reality they are making fun of her.

Step-by-step explanation:

Wole Soyinka's poem "Telephone Conversation" is a poem about racism that is nicely and cleverly dealt with by the speaker. The poem revolves around a landlady and a speaker who is looking for a room. The landlady agrees to everything until she hears she's "African".

In the telephonic conversation, the landlady appears to be okay with everything until the speaker reveals she's "African". Then starts the real questioning- "HOW DARK? [. . .] ARE YOU LIGHT OR VERY DARK?" This racist tone became the main topic of the house inquiry from this point on, with the landlady trying to figure out the skin color of the speaker.

But the speaker carefully replies to such questions by ironically responding to them- "Facially I am brunette, but, madam, you should see the rest of me. Palm of my hand, soles of my feet are a peroxide blonde. Friction, caused [. . .] by sitting down has turned my bottom raven black". And if that wasn't enough, she ended the conversation cleverly by asking "Madam, wouldn't you rather see for yourself?"

Thus, the speaker uses irony in such a way that she uses polite language but at the same time mocks and makes fun of the landlady and her ignorance.