please hold Flashcards
“wonderful says the robot”
“I have a wonderful telephone number”
- direct speech
- heavy irony, speaker is angry and frustrated
- speaker repeats the robot
the robot as a symbol
- acts as a symbol of the future and artificial development of technology and how it affects genuine human connections
- robot voice juxtaposes the frustrated speaker
“I’m sorry, I don’t understand, says the robot”
direct speech
- there is no real communication between the characters
“and my wife says, this is the future”
dehumanising effects of technology
- imitating robotic speech
- wife is reduced to robotic level
repetition
- lack of communication between characters
- growing technology = breakdown in relationships
- devastating effects of modern technology
“And my translator says, This means your call is not important to them”
- satirical
- speaker is critical of technology
form
one long stanza
- represents the painfully slow and endless process of dealing with an automated phone call
“please do what you’re told”
- technology out of human control
“please hold”
- imperative
speaker is powerless compared to the robot
“cold”
“old”
“told”
internal rhymes
- no escape from the future
- technology out of human control
“grow old. grow cold”
the robots repetition combined with the speakers growing frustration leads readers not to sympathise but to see the situation as farcical
