Life in Lagos Ignorance or Reality - Literature Essay Samples

â€Å"A skeleton in the closet† is a phrase commonly used in reference to old secrets that, if revealed, may bring shame upon those involved. Often times, people will ignore the closet all together, by acknowledging its existence but never revealing the contents in its depthsthough no matter how tightly you pack these skeletons, a point of exposure is imminent. In Chris Abani’s Graceland, society in Lagos, Africa becomes a perfect parallel to this idiom, with people disregarding the detrimental state of the city as a way of coping with their personal fears and worries. But as violence and illegal activity in the community grows, as well as government corruption becoming more brutal, Lagos’ closet door begins to tremble. The characters Elvis and his friend Redemption seek any way of thriving in the dilapidated citywith very different perspectives on how to go about it. A conversation (end of Chapter 13) between Elvis and Redemption discusses a shady job offered by drug dealers; a close reading of this scene reveals their society’s convoluted philosophy of having only two options available when making decisions: ignorance or a disappointing reality. Elvis’ questioning of the deep-set ideology of accepted secrecy in Lagos only lessens his chances of ever uncovering the secrets Redemption and other Lagosians defend. Elvis’ contempt toward secrets differ from Redemption’s acceptance and promotion of them. Redemption has proposed to Elvis the opportunity to partake in a sketchy job offered by the Colonel and the army, who the boys have worked for before, but never directly dealt with for a job. With Elvis becoming more desperate to earn money for himself, he begins to consider the offer. In the midst of their conversation, Redemption says â€Å"It is better we are all blind, because in de land of de blind, de one eyed man is mad.† Redemption’s statement not only insinuates that unawareness is beneficial, but that knowledge and exposure to reality is dangerous. The truth will not set you free, but will limit you in what you can and can’t do; in this case, Redemption is proven correct when Elv is is dubious of taking the job because of the lack of information given to him. Redemption himself does not know the reality of what the â€Å"escort† job entails, and he prefers this, so that he can continue to believe that by maintaining the tradition of ignorance, the acceptance of reality will be easier. Elvis’ questioning of the job prevents him from learning the truth because of this mentality Redemption and other Lagosians have of viewing circumstances with a â€Å"blind eye†, rather than evaluating situations for what they truly are, giving them ability to fall back on phrases like â€Å"life is tough† and â€Å"it is what it is† when things go wrong. Earlier in the novel, Elvis again questions Redemption how the drug dealers know to trust them with such precious (expensive!) cargo, and Redemption responds with â€Å"Don’t even joke about dis. Dese people, they can kill you like disdey know I know what will happen if I cheat themâ €  (102). Redemption has full awareness of the consequences that may result from the situations he is involved with; he ignores them regardless, perhaps because of the fear of admitting the possibility of a messy truth out loud, causing disruption to the bliss of ignorance. The ideology that the submission to ignorance is the key to success in Lagos is easily accepted by Redemption and many of the characters in Graceland, leaving Elvis confused and forced to turn to The King of the Beggars as a beacon of exposing the truth. Elvis reveals to Redemption that he has been looking to the King, the old neighborhood beggar, as a mentor for advice. The King becomes a person in Elvis’ life who attempts to steer him away from the life of crime and â€Å"dishonesty† (109) that he is currently involved in with Redemption. Though the King’s advice â€Å"when a car hits a dog, its puppy is never far behind† (110) is seemingly helpful, and a clear warning to Elvis of the implications and reality of what dealing with Redemption may look like, it contradicts the King’s refusal to tell Elvis the truth about his past earlier in the conversation. He is willing to expose the truths of others but not of himself; this causes the King to beco me a conflicting image of Truth. He fails to practice what he preaches to Elvis, most likely because of his personal intentions to get revenge on the Colonel for the brutal murder of his family. It would seem logical to reveal this past to Elvis, because it would explain and support his cause against exposing the reality of violence in Lagos and the secrecy surrounding it, but this reveal would also be suspicious to Elvis, since the Colonel is who Elvis and Redemption are working for. Is the King trying to enlighten Elvis and distance him from the violence in their society, or is he merely trying to minimize the support Elvis is providing for the Colonel? The idea of insecurity in trusting the King is supported when Redemption responds to Elvis’ admittance to confiding in the King, accusing Elvis of being â€Å"a small blind boy† to the truths about â€Å"[Him]. De King. Lagos. Life.† Elvis’ relationship with the King arouses anger and criticism from Redemption, painting Elvis to be immature. Aside from calling him a physically insignificant (â€Å"small†), naive (â€Å"blind†), child (â€Å"boy†), Redemption tells Elvis that he will one day grow up and learn to see the world as it truly is. Redemption’s application of a negative connotation to being â€Å"blind† is a complete contradiction to the earlier half of him and Elvis’ conversation: when he is insisting that it is best to not have full disclosure of the purpose/ intentions of the escort job. Redemption follows up this insult to Elvis by, ironically, refusing to aid him in learning about the details of himself, the King, Lagos or life. Redemption has proven himself to be someone who does not know everything about different situations in life, and he does this at his own discretion. This characteristic he has implies that he does not think awareness of contex t, as Elvis requests, makes you a man, but it is the awareness of how to properly handle being dealt life’s cards with no context, that makes you a man. Because so much of Lagos is kept in secret, or is said in unspoken words, Redemption expects Elvis to conform to this social norm, as everyone does when faced with approaching adulthood. Though Adani portrays him to be of a mysterious naturea possibility for his riskiness and acceptance of the unknownRedemption’s confusing rejection of reality stems from the majority of society in Lagos and their sense of lacking the ability to control their own lives. It is shown in the scene where Elvis is crossing a busy highway, (37-9) only to remember that dozens of people every day are murdered on the highway, and it could be avoided by crossing the multiple bridges built above. When he inquires to the man next to him about why everyone chooses to risk their lives rather than â€Å"even the odds a little† by crossing the bridges, he is given the response â€Å"Life in Lagos is a gamble. We all have to die sometimes you know, if it is your time, it is your time.† The undermining of the worthiness of a person’s life is evident in Lagos’ society, and they yet again have found a way to blame â€Å"life† (in this case â€Å"time†) rat her than initiate change themselves. Their submission to these situations sparks an interesting inference that concludes the state of Lagos (one that is corrupt, poor, deteriorating, and the site where many, like Elvis’ father, Sunday, have been forced to move to from their original rural towns) to be one of many roots that caused this idea among people, allowing them to believe that they lack control over their own lives. Even when crossing the street they are greeted by soldiers who are intended to protect them from the busy highway. However, these soldiers can not be trusted either. A violent encounter Elvis has with a soldier in a nightclub (113-17), over an accidental stumble, nearly gets him killed. The soldier’s clear motive, to gain respect through violence and fear, allows one to pose the question: If a soldier can not be trusted with a person’s life during a clear misunderstanding, how can he be trusted with a person’s life when crossing a dange rous highway? This can be connected back to Lagos’ lack of control of their paths in life. Their society is built on a mistrusting and forceful government/army, who controls them physically, and systematicallythus leading to the deeply ingrained notion that regardless of the trials and tribulations, their fate, their choices, and their lives are out of their control. For that reason, they live their lives making choices by disregarding the difference between their ignorance of a situation and reality. There are two kinds of people in Lagos: those who are ignorant of the violence and corruption in the city, thus following the ‘out-of-sight-out-of-mind’ theory, and those who are so aware of the realities of the goings-on in society that they are fully immersed in the violence and corruption. Lagos’ society has been split into these two groups because of humanity’s conflicting innate responses to be curious, yet to shield oneself from danger. The temptation to know the truth, as Elvis does throughout the novel, stems from the ongoing secrecy that occurs in the citywhich ironically, everyone knows about! There is an unspoken code of secrecy among people as a way of coping with the harsh realities of people dying, killing, abusing innocents, or other violent truths that would distract one from being able to live on in peace. Life in Lagos is already held at a low level of value, and exposure to more reasons to not live would create more chaos than what alread y exists in Lagos. Thus, a coping mechanism is created, and for Lagosians it is called ignorancepurposely ignoring and not gaining new knowledge about the state of Lagos and the actions of people that live there. The larger theme of Graceland is Elvis’ maturation and his struggle to identify himself as a man. The concept of having to choose between only two cut-throat perspectives in life is the root of Elvis’ difficulty to find out who he is as a person, and the role he wants (needs?) to play in society.

Frameworks of study and variables in the economy - Free Essay Example

Hypothesis Development The importance of corporate governance for Asian countries was emerged in1997 when a financial crisis in Japan was expanded to the countries in Asia pacific region (Sueyoshi, Goto, and Yusuke, 2009). Since many researches were conducted to explore the relationship between corporate governance and company performance in Asia along with the USA. However, as mentioned before, one of the most important issues in corporate governance discussion is agency problem (Shakir, 2006) and it means when ownership and management team are separately from each other, agency problem will show its effects. This situation was explored in Zhuang, Edwards, and Capulong study (2001). They tried to find the effect of monitor managers and to implement control; therefore managers act in the best interest of companies owners (shareholders). According to Dalton, Daily, Ellstrand and Johnson (1998) agency problem is the most identified theoretical perspective which is explored in corporate governance studies. However, according to Bebczuk (2005), corporate governance can affect companies performance because of agency problem which is a result of an inconsistency of interest between shareholders and management. Hence, Bebczuk (2005) study went through the Argentinas companies to explore the role of corporate governance and its effects on corporate performance. Some of other researchers who worked on this relationship were Chen (2005) in Taiwan, and Che Haat et al. (2008) in Malaysia. Therefore, based on the priors study, the first hypothesis for this study can be developed as bellow: There is a significant relationship between corporate governance and performance of the Malaysian listed companies. In term of capital structure there are few studies not only in Malaysia, but also elsewhere that their purpose is to explore the corporate governance and capital structure. As a recent effort, Saad (2010) explored the commitments level of Malaysian listed companies to code of corporate governance in Malaysia; then, the effects of these commitments on the capital structure was examined. Existing the relationship between corporate governance and the capital structure was proved in Saad (2010) study. Priors to Saad (2010) study, Bhagat and Bolton found relationship between corporate governance and capital structure between companies in the USA. Following the previous studies, in this study the second hypothesis is defined as bellow. There is a significant relationship between corporate governance and capital structure of Malaysian listed companies. Sample Selection To achieve the best results, the companies listed in Bursa Malaysia were selected to find their level of commitments to the corporate governance code in Malaysia, and the effects of these commitments on their performance and the capital structure decisions. Secondary data will be used in this research and Bursa Malaysia website and companies annual reports can be sources of data for this research. This research will choose listed companies randomly from main and second board of Bursa Malaysia and financial firms and banks will be excluded as they have different natures and policies. Data Collection Different authors have different opinions and offer different guidelines for the appropriate number of sample size in multiple regression. Stevens (1996, p.72) says that for a social science research, about fifteen samples for each independent variable should be used to achieve a reliable equation (Pallant, 2005, p. 142). Hence, based on Stevens opinion, as this research has 3 independent variables, 45 samples can be enough for this research. Elsewhere, Tabachnick and Fidell (2001, p. 117) recommend a formula for sample size calculation and state that number of samples should be more than 50 + 8 * IV (where IV is number of independent variables). Therefore, 50 + 8 * 3 = 74 samples are enough for this research. However, this research employs G*Power 3.0.10 to calculate the sample size and according to the results of this software, as this research has three predictors including one independent variable and two control variables and the study will use Multiple Regression from F-Tests g roup, to achieve the desired results with error probability = 0.05, Power (1- error probability) = 0.95, Effect size = 0.2, sample size will be 90 and with this sample size, the actual power will be 0.950306. The output is shown in the following table. Effect size 0.2 Noncentrality Parameter 18 error probability 0.05 Critical F 2.710647 Power (1- error probability) 0.95 Numerator df 3 Number of Predictors 3 Denominator df 86 Total Sample Size 90 Actual Power 0.950306 Table3.5: G*Power results In figure 3.1 Total Sample size is drawn as a function of Power of the test and as shown with 90 sample size, power of the test reaches to 0.95 which is the desired amount for this research. Figure 3.2 draws as a function of total sample size and as shown, = 0.05 achieves with 90 sample size. Furthermore, the following figure (Fig 3.3) draws both of and power as functions of total sample size and as shown they crosses each other with 90 sample size. Therefore, the sample size of this research will be 90 companies that will be chosen from Bursa Malaysia website randomly. Measurement of Variables Independent Variables Researchers apply a conduct test to investigate effect and cause connections; it means that they arrange an experiment in order that changes to one entry lead to something else to differ in an unsurprising method. These modifies in quantities called variable. Term of variable can refer to any trait, factor, or condition that can be in various amount or types. The independent variable is the one that is varied by researchers in order to have a fair test or a good experiment. As shown in the figure 3.1 the corporate governance is the independent variable in this study. Corporate Governance: Although this variable is used in all previous studies with corporate governance base, all these studies used different methods to measure corporate governance such as Gov-Score (Brown and Caylor, 2004), GMI (Bhgat and Bolton, 2008), etc as mentioned in the literature review chapter. This research adopts Bebczuk (2005) method to measure corporate governance practices in the firms. Hence, Transparency and Disclosure Index (TDI) is used as an index to measure the corporate governance. In line with Bebczuk (2005) study the structure of TDI are demonstrated based on table 3.1. The TDI is used, in order to determine the strength of firms corporate governance. TDI is relied on public information of firms on their annual reports, and reveals the standard of transparency and disclosure in a corporation. TDI includes 25 binary items which can discover a wide range of corporate governance issues. The binary will be equal one if a firm acts based on the code of corporate governance, in contrary, it will be zero. The TDI are divided into three sub-indices. They are Board, Disclosure, and Shareholders. Board is measured the structure, progresses, and compensation of the board and top management members. Disclosure is measured to what extend the firm annual reports release corporate facts to the external shareholders. Shareholders is measured the superiority and value of data and information in related to alternative shareholders. To understand the TDI and its aspects, the study provides operational definitions of TDI items. Table 3.1 presents these operational definitions. Table 3.1: TDI items explanation Manager and director fees Usually firms publish only total amount of their managers and directors fees and knowing of each directors fee is not possible. However, the best corporate governance practices is publishing each director and managers fee separately. Hence, the value of this item for a firm will be one if the firm publishes the exact amount of its managers and directors fee. The information related to this item usually can be found in remuneration part of the annual report. Form of manager and director fee payment Each company pays its managers and directors by many ways and the best corporate governance practice is disclosing all payment forms that the company considers. For instance, it includes basic salary, fees, bonus gratuity, fees subsidiaries, allowance, employers EPF, Benefits in kind, stock options, stock. As a matter of fact, some companies divide the payment forms only in few categories and shareholders and investors do not know the details. Hence, the value of this item will be one if the company publishes all form of payments to managers and directors, otherwise, it will be zero. This information usually can be found in the remuneration part of annual reports or in financial statements. Information on whether manager and director fees are performance-based Performance-based fees can be a method to decrease agency costs and the companies that want to follow the best corporate governance practices publish this information and mention whether their manager and directors fees are tied to their performance or not. This information can be found in directors remuneration part of annual report. Bio of main company officers/ Bio of directors These items disclose vary information about board. Age, race, education, years commitments with firm, information about directors in board. Financial Indicator for last five years Some of companies publish details of their last five years financial information and some companies only publish some of key financial indicators. Others do not give any information about their past financial statements in the current annual reports. Calendar of future events The lack of information about future events of companies will be disclosed through this item. If the company publishes the calendar of its future events this item will be one, otherwise zero. English-translated corporate website If the company has English-translated corporate website this item will be one and if it provides the information only in Malay or Chinese language it will be zero. Strategic plan and projections for the following years In todays competitive world, all companies must have details strategies and plans for future and usually they publish a brief of them in outlook and prospects parts of the annual reports. Some companies only gives a short review of the future economy and some publish detailed information about their companies strategies to encompass with the future challenges and use opportunities. Details on the appointment process of new directors Some of companies publish this information in a separate part which is titled Appointment procedure and some only mention a few lines in the nomination part of the annual report. Unfortunately, some of the firms dont publish anything related to this item. Therefore, this item for companies that follow the best corporate governance practice will be one, otherwise zero. Details on attendance of minority and controlling shareholders at shareholders meetings If the company keeps and publishes information related to minority and controlling shareholders in Annual general Meeting this item will be one; otherwise, it will be zero. Report of the external auditor Based on regulations all companies should put their auditors report in Annual Report. Therefore, it is expected that all firms get one for this item in Malaysia. Details of corporate ownership (principal shareholders) According to the listing requirement for Malaysian corporations, they should expose data and information associated to their shares and major shareholders. Malaysian companies respect to this law and it is expected that all companies that have been listed on Bursa Malaysia get one for this item. Type and amount of outstanding shares According to the listing requirement for Malaysian corporations, they should expose data and information associated to their shares and major shareholders. Malaysian companies follow these regulations. Hence, it is expected that all companies that are listed on Bursa Malaysia get one for this item. Dividend policy in the past five years If a company publishes its gross dividend, net dividend, or dividend per share for the past five years in its current annual report, this item will be one; otherwise zero. Projected dividend policy for the following years The information of this item can be found in Dividend part and some of companies reveal the following years dividend policy in the current annual report. As a matter of fact, informative more data about dividend policy can lead to raise investors confidence and convince them for more investment. Dependent Variables Researchers will focus on dependent variable in order to observe how this variable reaction to the change made to the independent variable. The value of dependent variable is the result of independent variable, and depends on independent variable too. Performance and capital structure are dependant variables in this study. It means this study will examine the effect of the independent variable, as mentioned above; on the performance and capital structure. Performance In order to measure the performance of firms, this study adapts measure used by Wei et al. (2000), Bebczuk (2005), and Bhagat and Bolton (2008). Performance is measured using different proxies as stated bellow: Return on Assets Bhagat and Bolton (2008), Wei et al. (2000), Aman and Nguyen (2008), Bebczuk (2005) Tobins Q Aman and Nguyen (2008) Return on Sales Bebczuk (2005) Wei et al. (2000) Return on Equity Bebczuk (2005) Table 3.2: performance In order to clarification each item, a briefly explanation is necessary as bellow: Return on assets: net income/ total assets Return on assets (ROA): Earnings before interest and taxes to total assets. Return on sales (ROS): Earnings before interest and taxes to sales. Return on equity (ROE): Earnings before interest and taxes to total equity. Tobins Q: The market value of a firms asset divided by the book value of its assets. Capital Structure Capital structure is measured by using the ratio of debt to assets. This measure is used by prior studies as Bebczuk (2005) and Bhagat and Bolton (2008). Debt to Asset Bebczuk (2005), Bhagat and Bolton (2008) Table 3.3: capital Structure Control variables To increase the reliability of the findings, the study considers firm size and firm growth as control variables. Although it is believed that size may create negative influence in a condition that size is related with the prostration of growth occasions, it defiantly have a positive effect on every occasion that size is associated with more diversification, superior economies of scale and scope, more management, and less rigorous financial restraints. Moreover, sales growth is a proxy for the product demand faced by the firm and its productivity. The firm size is measured as total assets ( logarithm of total assets ) as measured by Bebczuk (2005) and Chen (2004). Firm growth, on the other hand, is measured by a percentage of sales growth (Chen, 2004; Bebczuk,2005). Size Ln(assets) Logarithm of the companys total assets Growth Sales Growth Percentage sales growth Table 3.4: Control Variables Data Analysis Techniques This study employs Statistical Program for Social Science (SPSS) 18.0 for analyzing the data. After data collection and entering data into SPSS data sheet, two types of analyses are used to achieve the goals of the study. First, descriptive analysis is used for each variable. For instance, each item of TDI index which is the independent variable will be studied in details and by a descriptive analysis, the study wants to know how many percent of companies in Malaysian stock exchange market follow the best corporate governance practices. The result of this part will be a good guideline for firms that want to improve their corporate governance practices and also they can compare themselves with other companies and the mean of the market as well. Moreover, descriptive analysis is employed for dependent and control variables and the mean, standard deviation, frequency, and percentage of frequency of sectors, industries, size of firms, sales, and etc. of each company is achieved. In the second step of the analysis, the study tries to test the hypotheses of the research. For the first hypothesis which is finding the effect of corporate governance practices on the firms performance, three analyses are used which are correlation, ANOVA, and Multiple Regression. The aim of correlation analysis is to know there is any significant positive relationship between corporate governance practices and firms performance and then by ANOVA, the study wants to know whether this independent variable could use to predict the dependent variable or not. And finally, by regression analysis, an equation will be achieved and by R-square and coefficients, the results can be interpreted in details. The same analyses are used for the second hypothesis as well which is to study corporate governance practices can affect capital structure policies significantly or not. Therefore, again by correlation, ANOVA, and regression analysis this hypothesis will be tested.