Assignment

1. List and explain any ten insights for the formation of effective
study habits
2. Attempt a content summary of Teju Cole’s Every day for the Thief,
foregrounding the themes explored in the novel, as well as
character traits of any two prominent characters

Answers
1)
 Utilization and management of time
 Use of reading strategies
 Applying inductive reasoning
 Having group discussions
 Summarizing what has been learnt in key parts
 Restating or rewriting
 Visualizing your organized points in diagrams and labels
 Use of conductive environment devoid of distractions
 Personal school habits of prepared ness, self-desire and
willingness to improve and do well in school.
 Grouping and organizing information so as to make learning
easier
 Explanations

 Utilization and management of time: it is important in the

formation of effective study habits by making proper use of your
time, having a regular daily time table and place schedule.
 Use of reading strategies: It is important in formation of an
effective study habit by making use of various reading strategies
such as skimming, scanning and text attack skills.
 Applying inductive reasoning: it is necessary in developing an
effective study habit by applying inductive reasoning which can be
achieved by drawing clear generalized conclusions.
 Having group discussions: Effective study habits can be achieved
through group discussions such as in debates, quiz etc. on
collective effort
 Summarizing what has been learnt in key parts: An effective study
habit can be developed through summarizing key parts in words,
phrases, sentences, outline, concepts and categories.
 Restating or rewriting: Effective study habits can be promoted
through the using of restating or rewriting technique as this
involves using your own words to rewrite your notes as this
enhances your thinking ability.
 Visualizing your organized points in diagrams and labels: Diagrams
though usually underrated as a tool, can be used to bring all the
information together for easy grasp and practice and this in return
helps to help in the formation of effective study habits.
 Use of conducive atmosphere that is devoid of distractions:
Distractions through phone calls, watching movies, television,
playing music and musical gadgets helps distract student from
 studying so a conducive atmosphere devoid of distractions helps
in the formation of effective study habit.
 Personal school habits of preparedness, self-desire and
willingness to improve and do well in school: A learner’s attitude
towards learning, self-discipline and self-determination as well as
personal motivation helps in the formation of effective study
habit.
 Grouping and organizing information so as to make learning
easier: Grouping and organization of information easier for
retention while studying. This helps in formation of effective study
habits.

2)
Summery
Every day for the thief
By Teju Cole

The story describes an unnamed character which is later referred to

as Tokunbo (Which means from overseas) who describes a man
revisiting the city of his childhood some fifteen years after having
emigrated to America Narrator.
The chapters of Every Day Is for the Thief read as a series of
distinct monographs that refract recurrent themes through specific
events or moments such as: an unknown child in the family house, an
unexpected sighting of a woman on a bus reading a peculiar novel
(Ondaatje novel), a young boy caught stealing and publicly set on fire.
The result shows us the rapidly transforming city through Westernized
eyes.
The plot of the novella captures the homeward journey of
someone who had been away for so long. The narrator is disappointed
and dejected as he moves about Lagos witnessing corruption and rot. In
several instances, the narrator underscores the effect of corruption by
chronicling the several aspects of life that have suffered neglect as a
result of the corruption of the ruling class and his hosts mostly his aunt
try to shield him from corruption on the streets which he refused due
to his urge to experience it first-hand. By the time he was through and
ready to go back to where he came from, he left on a tone of skepticism
on the seeming irredeemability of Nigeria.
The first dose of corruption the narrator encounters was at the
Nigerian consulate in New York. The narrator frowns at the type of
shady dealings rife in the consulate. Eventually, for him to meet up with
his flight he complies. He also in the toll booth when he witnessed
corruption first hand on the street of Nigeria which prompt him to
make the statement that “the money demanded by someone whose
fingers hovers over the trigger of an AK-47 is less a tip than a ransom”.
In Internet cafés, there is a thrilling moment of recognition as the
narrator peers over at his neighbor. “The words I see him type,
‘transfer,’ ‘dear friend,’ ‘deposited into your account forthwith,’
present incontrovertible evidence: he is composing a 419 letter.
Throughout Every Day Is for the Thief, the narrator focuses on
Lagos’s cultural inattention to its national history. One chapter
describes his depressing trip to the National Museum of Nigeria, where
he discovers that the texts on the moldering wall plaques are
“obsequious, inaccurate, uncritical, and desperately outdated, as if
each dictator was sent a form to fill in with his ‘achievements’ and it
was left at that. At a bookstore, the one corner people crowd around
consists of books with “reiterations of a few themes: how to make
money quickly by adopting certain simple principles, how to discover
God’s plan for your life, how to live a healthy, wealthy, and victorious
life . . .”

Themes
 Quest for roots and sense of longing: The decision of the narrator
to come back home, demonstrates a sense of patriotism and his
love for his motherland as it is see in the book that the narrator is
reluctant to take danfo so that he can be on the street. It is like
saying “there is no place like home”
 Political and economic corruption: The book depicts corruption
and identifies it as a source of underdevelopment as it is see
throughout the book at internet café’s, toll booth and Nigerian
consulate
 Jungle Justice: This is seen in the book as the incident as a child is
burnt in Yaba on the account that he stole a child shows the
prevalence of jungle justice and of course, how the society has
degenerated and people no longer have respect for common
humanity.
 Anarchy: The book Every day is for the thief depicts the
breakdown of law and order in several instances in the book as
can be seen in the book as a collision between two cars.
 Immediately followed by both drivers shut of their engines, jump
out of their vehicles and start beating each other up.

 Family Bond: The book revels family bond and a sense of

belonging in the way the narrator connects with his past friends,
family and lover(Amina) as though time hasn’t past
 Paradox of City Life: The setting of the book, is shown Lagos as
absurdities where people suffer in the midst of plenty and where
social disruption reigns supreme.

Characterization
Aunt Folake: She is the aunt of the narrator. She kind and caring as she
takes the narrator in after the death of his father and she picks him
from the airport and provides a place for him to stay. she is also
protective as try to protect the narrator from the evils of Lagos. Evil’s
which is also accustomed with as she experiences trauma after getting
robed by armed robbers. She is also passionate as she cries when faced
with uncertain doom in the hands of area boys and she is devout
Christians as she gets up every day at five every morning to spend an
hour with the bible and devotional texts before the sun rises.
Rotimi: He is a childhood friend of the narrator. He is a well-made guy,
very smooth with an unmistakable grin. He is also practicing medicine
as the narrator but he is studying to go into pediatrics. He is kind as he
offers the narrator a ride to the filling station but he himself has
witnessed beforehand death such as the narrator as he faced trauma
after the death of his younger brother Sola.