The telephone Call Flashcards
1-4
They asked me ‘Are you sitting down?
Right? This is Universal Lotteries’,
they said. ‘You’ve won the top prize,
the Ultra-super Global Special.
Opening w/ dialogue grabs reader’s attention + is unusual
The callers begin by asking if the speaker is sitting down—a common way of prefacing big news
Tone of mystery & surprise, sense of the unknown
“Universal” & “Global Special” suggest that this is a large, international company (speaker has won a huge prize)
Ultra-super—> 2 hyperbolic superlatives connected: sounds ridiculous & fake
5-8
What would you do with a million pounds?
Or, actually, with more than a million -
not that it makes a lot of a difference
once you’re a millionaire.’ And they laughed.
callers aren’t technically lying here, they imply that the top prize is a million pounds, But the statement and the question don’t necessarily have to be related!
Laughing + contrast= introduces first element of uncertainty
Poem published in 1986 (1 million was $3.8 million , a life changing amount)
9-13
‘Are you OK?’ they asked - ‘Still there?
Come on, now, tell us, how does it feel?’
I said ‘I just… I can’t believe it!’
They said ‘That’s what they all say. -
What else? Go on, tell us about it.’
callers urge the speaker to share some emotion
I just… I can’t believe it!” response conveys an mix of skepticism and excitement
excitement seems to grow
“That’s what they all say” —> everyone they call responds w/ excitement & disbelief, it’s a human nature to react to overwhelming good news w/ skepticism
14-20
I said’ I feel the top of my head
has floated off, out through the window,
revolving like a flying saucer.’
‘That’s unusual’ they said. ‘Go on.’
I said ‘I’m finding it hard to talk.
My throat’s gone dry, my nose is tingling.
I think I’m going to sneeze – or cry.
Head flying = Dark & disturbing image contrasts what is expected to be an experience of elation
repetition of “tell us” & “Go on” makes the callers start to sound pushy + insistent, as if they’re trying to intensify the speaker’s emotions, to make the phone call as “unusual” and memorable as possible (bc prize is the emotional response)
speaker’s emotions seem to intensify, physical effect similar to figurative image in that it isn’t necessarily a positive one
21-26
‘That’s right’ they said, ‘don’t be ashamed
of giving way to your emotions.
It isn’t every day you hear
you’re going to get a million pounds.
Relax, now, have a little cry,
We’ll give you a moment…’
callers sympathize—or pretend to sympathize—with the speaker’s “emotions”, in the ending we see their words are cruelly ironically
callers’ language is slippery, they fall short of promising the money; they just strongly imply the money is on its way.
Last 2 lines: They seem to want the speaker “Relax[ed]” and off their guard, as opposed to suspicious and thinking critically
26-32
‘Hang on!’ I said.
I haven’t bought a lottery ticket
for years and years. And what did you say
the company’s called?’ They laughed again.
‘Not to worry about a ticket.
We’re Universal. We operate
A retrospective Chances Module.
Speaker gets suspicious (Tonal change)
what’s significant here is how prepared they are for the caller’s objection. Either they’ve rehearsed carefully or they’ve made this kind of call before
Technical language aims to convince reader by confusing them and so they don’t ask any more questions (just fake, slick-sounding technical jargon)
The poem illustrates, then, how little it takes for irrational hope to get the better of a skeptic.
33-37
Nearly everyone’s bought a ticket
in some lottery or another,
once at least. We buy up the files,
feed the names into our computer,
and see who the lucky person is.’
They explain how nearly everyone on earth is eligible for the “Universal” drawing
⬆️ sinister bc:
1) participants don’t even know they’re part of the draw &
2) Universal draws from entries in past lotteries, then nobody has paid any money into this game, and Universal shouldn’t have any money to award
3) computers in 1986 viewed as misterios + impressive
speaker, despite their skepticism, they still feel some irrational hope.
38-42
‘It’s marvellous. I still can’t quite…
I’ll believe it when I see the cheque.’
‘Oh,’ they said, ‘there’s no cheque.’
‘But the money?’ ‘We don’t deal in money.
The twist ending comes right at the beginning of the final stanza, as if this were the final paragraph of a short story
when they find out it was all a lie, they react with disappointment: “But the money?” Clearly, on some level, speaker hoped the money was real
43-48
Experiences are what we deal in.
You’ve had a great experience, right?
Exciting? Something you’ll remember?
That’s your prize. So congratulations
from all of us at Universal.
Have a nice day!’ And the line went dead.
Close of poem is harshly ironic
their rhetorical questions sound mocking or bullying
The irony is clear: the speaker’s day was going fine before the call, but thanks to “Universal,” it’s become a major letdown. In fact, the speaker seemed reasonably content with their life before the call; for example, they hadn’t “bought a lottery ticket / for years and years”
The “experience” of the phone is memorable, but only because it’s painful.
This closing image may hint that the speaker themselves feels “dead”; their previous hope and excitement are gone.
Form meter & rhyme
Free verse ( no meter or rhyme):
-helps language sound natural & conversational
Poem’s form = equal-sized stanzas:
-reads like a very short story and is easy to digest
Contrasting the bitter aftertaste
Theme hope & disappointment
1) “I can’t believe it”
2) “Universal”
3) ”Nearly everyone’s bought a ticket “
how easy it is to give into unrealistic hopes—and how doing so can make inevitable disappointment all the more crushing
1) -suggests that it’s common to distrust amazing news
- also a joyous exclamation that betrays some desire to believe—and this, too, is part of human nature.
2) implies that everyone goes through the roller coaster of hope at some point
3 Metaphorically, this claim implies that we all give away to wild hopes at some point, and can feel stung by their failure to come true
Theme illusion vs experience
experience is such an obviously anticlimatic “prize” (compared to the riches originally promised) that the poem ends up mocking its value
just the brief illusion of winning the lottery has the power to produce an emotional high
