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Every Day Is For The Thief Analysis

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Amid life in Nigeria, “Every day is for the thief, but one day is for the owner”. The day to day life in Nigeria present grueling challenges, that hinges upon one 's safety. From the beginning of modern public administration in Nigeria, there have been numerous cases involving misuse of funding and resources. The government has many corrupt aspects, and stemming off of that is a community gone to the dogs. Throughout Teju Cole’s novel Every Day Is For The Thief, Humanities immoral acts stem from the needs of survival, exposed through characterization and irony. The author utilizes characterization to represent the people in the Nigerian society and what they experience in order to provide for their families. The theme is further developed …show more content…

Next, he finds the violence in Nigeria is a big problem. An 11 year old thief trying to take things in the marketplace is not shown mercy, for his punishment is death. "The splashing liquid is lighter than water... it drips off him... The whites of his eyes are as bright as lamps. The fire catches with a loud gust... The boy dances furiously but, hemmed down by the tire, quickly goes prone, and still... In a few days it will be as though nothing happened." Despite the fact that the boy was stealing, the punishment did not fit the crime. This characterizes the people in Lagos as cruel and unjust. Something that sticks out is when it says that it will be forgotten. The people show no mercy and do not think much of harm brought to others, causing a chain reaction within …show more content…

First, as he is returning to his homeland, after living in New York for 15 years. He was hoping to once again make a connection with his land and people. He soon finds out that America recreated him in many erratic ways. “I have, taken into myself some of the assumptions of life in a Western democracy — certain ideas about legality, for instance, certain expectations of due process — and in that sense I have returned a stranger”. He is appalled by the corruption that is around him from the start of his journey, such as getting his passport renewed at the Nigerian consulate in New York, and nervous of the threats of violence he is soon to encounter. This is ironic because he was once a man that lived within the corruption, and when he got reintroduced to it, he was shocked by how wrong it was. Secondly, The narrator realizes that even though the people are doing bad things to get what they want, it 's mainly because they have no opportunity to make real money due to the government. “The systems that could lift the majority out of poverty are undercut at every turn. Precisely because everyone takes a shortcut, nothing works and, for this reason, the only way to get anything done is to take another shortcut.” The higher up does what is easier for them to make money. This is ironic because they are doing what is best for their interesting,

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