please hold Flashcards
What is the significance of the title?
The title is in the voice of the robot to convey its power and control, the imperative conveys the idea of command with a sense of faux politeness
‘This is the future…
…my wife says. We are already there, and it’s the same as the present’
What is the AO2? ‘This is the future, my wife says. We are already there, and it’s the same as the present’
The speaker’s wife is presents as robotic with her clipped, largely monosyllabic tone, suggesting that tech has corrupted human behaviour. Additionally, the confusing and contradictory opening introduced the nature of tech in the poem
What repeated words/phrases show how tech reduces human language?
‘Wonderful, says the robot’, ‘Great, says the robot’
‘I have a wonderful telephone number and a great account number’
These show that tech has distorted human language and reduced its meaning
What is the AO2? ‘I give him my telephone number’, ‘I give him my account number’
Despite feeling frustrated, the speaker is passive in this dynamic and lacking authority
‘but I can find…
…nothing to meet my needs’
What is the AO2? ‘but I can find nothing to meet my needs’
The robot provides the illusion of choice, yet in reality has very little to offer
What is the AO2? ‘my account (which is really the robot’s account)
The use of parenthesis represents the truth behind the robot’s faux polite facade
‘Please say…
Yes or No. Or you can say Repeat or Menu’
What is the AO2? ‘Please say Yes or No. Or you can say Repeat or Menu’
The conjunctions are repeated to convey a false sense of choice
How is the speaker’s escalating frustration presented?
Shift from ‘talk’ to ‘shout’ to ‘scream’
How is the repetition of ‘This is the future…’ significant?
The repetition shows the speaker’s restriction, constantly looping back to the same phrases
What is the AO2? ‘Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. Please hold.’
The repetition of this phrase emphasises how tech has distorted the best of human accomplishments
‘And the robot…
…transfers me to himself’
What is the AO2? ‘And the robot transfers me to himself’
The robot holds all the power, and tech is presented as an inescapable cycle
What is the AO2? ‘and my translator says’
Technology has somehow become a nonsensical, unrecognisable language
‘the only way…
…you can now meet your needs is by looting’
What is the AO2? ‘the only way you can now meet your needs is by looting’
The speaker feels trapped by tech - he can only actually escape the system through violent rebellion
‘Please hold. Please…
grow old. Please grow cold’
What is the AO2? ‘Please hold. Please grow old. Please grow cold.’
The ending is entirely in the voice of the robot, where even the faux politeness disappears. The quickening of the tempo to ‘Grow old. Grow cold.’ conveys the rapidly disappearing sense of freedom
