Bronzeville Woman in a Red Hat is a poem written by Gwendolyn Brooks and published in her famous collection of poems known as The Bean Eaters in 1960. Set in Bronzeville, where the poet is believed to have grown up, the poem narrates of the experiences of a black woman looking for a job as a housecleaner. The Bronzeville lady undergoes humiliation at the hands of a white family, and this is what the poem is all about; exposing some misconceptions the society might have on some of its members. On the other hand, Telephone Conversation is a poem written by Wole Soyinka, and it depicts a telephone conversation between a white lady and an African man. Again, the poem explores the prejudice that exists in the society and the harsh reality of racism. Both Gwendolyn Brooks’s Bronzeville Woman in a Red Hat and Wole Soyinka’s Telephone Conversation reveal the race prejudices that exist in the modern society, and the poets skillfully expose this vice through the use of irony.
Irony is a literary device used to convey a meaning that is totally different from the literal meaning. In both the Bronzeville Woman in a Red Hat and Telephone Conversation, the use of irony is quite apparent. In Bronzeville Woman in a Red Hat, for example, the use irony is evident in the last sentences of the poem. The white mistress (Mrs. Miles) reacts angrily when the African-American woman comes to the aid of her child. In her mind, the “black maid” should not even attempt to take care of her “creamy child”.
Nonetheless, it is quite ironical that the white lady does not take good care of her child, and the child is looking for “human humoring” as the poet puts it. The irony of it all peaks when the black maid comes to the rescue of the child, and makes his pain to subside. Although the white lady does not trust her child being in the hands of the “black maid”, the child relaxes when the maid takes care of him. The maid’s kiss is like “honey upon marvelous grime”. The maids touch is like the magic cure, and it makes the child’s physical pain to subside. Not to be outdone, Mrs. Miles attempts to snatch the child away from the Bronzeville woman.
The mother lures her child from “cannibal wilderness”, but the child refuses to return back to her mother. This is quite ironical because her mother wants to clean any impurity that her child has been presumably infected with and “pry the ordure from the cream”. Instead, the child returns to the maid’s affection. As it turns out, the child seems to be at peace with the Bronzeville woman, while Mrs. Miles views this affection with disgust. The irony is not only deliberate, but it also comes at a good time to expose the racial prejudice in the interaction.
On the other hand, Wole Soyinka’s Telephone Conversation is also full of irony. The introduction of the poem is in itself ironical “The price seemed reasonable, location Indifferent.” As it turns out, nothing of that nature was even discussed; instead, the white landlady is concerned with the tenant’s skin color. Therefore, the introduction seems to scoff at the direction that the telephone conversation takes. The lady is not interested in discussing the price, the location, and the amenities found in the building, but the speaker’s skin color. The speaker is denied an opportunity to rent the building not because he cannot afford it, but because of his skin color.
Further irony comes out when the poet describes the lady “good-breeding. Voice Lipstick coated”. In reality, the lady is neither well-bred, nor is she courteous in her conversation; instead, she comes across as a shallow racist. Moreover, the lady is not apologetic, and this is not “good-breeding” as we know it. It is also ironical when the poet says that the lady was considerate: “Considerate she was, varying the emphasis”. This is quite ironical, considering the kind of treatment that the lady gives the speaker. In reality, she is quite inconsiderate, and does not even realize it. Nonetheless, the irony in the poem serves another important function: the function of making racial prejudice in the poem apparent.
Prejudice refers to preconceived judgment of other people, and racial prejudice is evident in the two poems. In Bronzeville Woman in a Red Hat, for instance, the upper class white families do not think much about the black people. The Bronze woman looking for a job is subjected to a dehumanizing tirade of words as she is compared to all manner of inhuman things. She is compared to a lion, panther, and black bear.
In the initial stages of the poem, the poet creates a picture of a white family (the mistress) which looks at the woman standing on their door with disgust. To them, the Bronzeville woman is not really human until they realize her hat; that is when her features become human and “refreshing”. The ridicule does not stop there, and the family reacts negatively to the lady’s pink mouth and the torn look of her eyes.
The same kind of prejudice is also evident in the second part of the poem. Mrs. Miles does not want the “black maid” to come near her “creamy child.” When the maid comforts the child, and he relaxes, Mrs. Miles attempts to take him away and clean any impurity that the child has been infected with and “pry the ordure from the cream.” According to her, the child is in “cannibal wilderness.” Nothing could be further from the truth because the child not only embraces the black maid, but also appears to be comfortable in her hands. This characterization puts the matter of racial prejudice into perspective, and it proves very effective in arguing against the prejudicial attitudes revealed in the poem.
The same case is also true for Wole Soyinka’s Telephone Conversation. Racial prejudice is rife in the poem, and this is evident from the landlady’s question “ARE YOU LIGHT/OR VERY DARK?”. The emphasis the poet puts on this question by using capital letters proves quite immense in revealing the landlady’s racial prejudice; the emphasis proves the importance that the landlady attaches to this question, and no amount of interruption will prevent her from getting an answer - going by the number of times the question comes up in the conversation. The question itself is bigoted because it should not even arise in matters of renting a building. It only proves that the landlady has some prejudgments of people based on their skin color. Again, like in Bronzeville Woman in a Red Hat, the use of characterization puts the matter of racial prejudice into perspective and makes it easy to discern the prejudicial attitude in the poem.
In summary, both Bronzeville Woman in a Red Hat and Telephone Conversation explore the issue of prejudice (particularly racial prejudice), and this is done skillfully using irony as a literary device. In both poems, people of African descent are treated unfairly due to the color of their skin, and this is what the poets are up in arms against. Although racial prejudice is a subject that draws serious reactions from various quarters, the poets narrate the state of their subjects in an ironical manner and this downplays the reader’s emotions. The critique of the racial prejudices in the poems is excellent, and the use of characterization and perspective makes this possible.
Works Cited
Bloom, Harold. Gwendolyn Brooks. New York, NY: Infobase Publishing, 2009. Print.
Soyinka, Wole. Conversations With Wole Soyinka. Jackson: Univ. Press of Mississippi, 2001.
Print.
