Unwritten Rules

A detailed Summary of Unwritten Rules

"Just five decades ago, most black Americans could not work, live, shop, eat, seek

entertainment or travel as they chose (Jaynes and Williams 3)." This statement reflects the plight of African Americans during the time period described in " Incident" by Countee Cullen and "Telephone Conversation" by Wole Soyinka. These two poems show how black people were treated during a particular era in American history. In these two poems one can see how black people were segregated, excluded, and intimidated by the white majority during a particular time period. In both of these poems one can see all of the prejudices faced by black people and the struggle of white people to stay separated from black people. One can see in " Incident" by Countee Cullen and "Telephone Conversation" by Wole Soyinka, similarities that demonstrate the historical and sociological impact of this era on African Americans.

"Incident" and "Telephone Conversation" both reflect a historical period in America that deprived African Americans of basic freedoms. These poems show in simplistic situations that many prejudices held against African Americans during that time period. Historically, the 1930s was a time period when black Americans were made t

Both poems show how different races usually stay separate. For many years Americans have opted to socialize and interact more often with their own race. " The initial fact, therefore is that human groups tend to stay apart (Allport 19). However, this staying separated eventually made the black race feel like an inferior minority to a superior whit majority. These two poems demonstrate how race groups tend to stay apart in two particular situations. In " Incident " the white child felt he was of an entirely different group than the black child. This whit child uses hateful actions as a means of keeping himself away from the black community. In "Telephone Conversation" the woman uses the method of selecting whom she does business with to keep herself apart from people of a different skin color. By being choosy about whom she will allow to rent from her, this woman is staying separate from a group unlike her own. This woman is merely a reflection of the social norms of her time. Both the poems reflect how society struggled to keep the black and white populations apart.

o feel as if they were subordinate to the majority. Cullen and Soyinka both reveal how black people were put down during this time period.

In the era of the two poems most whit people used intimidation to influence black people. By blatantly showing their distaste for blacks, a large majority of the white population attempted to show their power over black people who attempted to show their power over black people. "There was a widespread attempt to intimidate black people who attempted to vote and engage in other political and social activities (Jaynes and Williams 65). In the poem "Incident", one can see where the white child uses his hatred as an intimidation technique to make the black child feel uncomfortable when interacting socially with white people. The white child's behavior is certain to make the black child wary of ever even smiling at white people again. In "Telephone Conversation" the woman uses her position as a white businesswoman to intimidate a potential black customer. The woman questions the man on the exact color of his skin, attempting to make the man feel that if he is not very black, she may rent to him.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Telephone Conversation, Jaynes Williams, Cullen Wole, African Americans, Wole Soyinka, African American, black people, telephone conversation, Unwritten Rules, black child, white child, white people, Cullen Soyinka, incident telephone, african americans, Incident Telephone, incident telephone conversation, control black, jaynes williams, incident white child, white population, telephone conversation woman, african americans period, exclusion black people, Americans Incident,

Approximate Word count = 1490
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English