Q1)This poem is full of colors—and not just of skin. What colors do you see in the poem? What does Soyinka want to communicate through these images of color?
Q2)What does their dialogue reveal about these two characters?
Q3)This poem dramatizes a battle. Who do you think finally wins, and why?
ANSWERS
Q1)I think the colors in the poems signify racial discrimination. The story starts with an African-American wanting to rent a room from an English landlady. The landlady clearly discriminates against African-Americans as she was asking about "ARE YOU DARK? OR VERY LIGHT" repeatedly in the passage. And when she finds out that the man's skin color is dark, she refused to rent the room to him.
Q2)The landlady is described as a fine landlady in the start of the poem, renting the room in a reasonable price, but when she heard that the man came from Africa, she went into silence which obviously indicate that she is a person who discriminates against Africans with a darker skin color as she also asked the man "ARE YOU DARK? OR VERY LIGHT". This shows that she also minds a person with dark skin color.
The man is not ashamed of being an African as he states firmly without hesitation "I am African." He then tried to persuade the landlady to rent him the room despite him being African so he tried to described his skin color as pretty fair and white "Palm of my hand, soles of my feet are a peroxide blonde".
Q3)The black finally wins, because I personally thinks that anyone who discriminates, is the ultimate loser at the end.
