Self-actualization in William Somerset Maugham's "The Razor's Edge" and "Of Human Bondage"

Table of Contents

Abstract

Introduction

Chapter One: The Intersection of the Theory of the Third Force Psychology and Literature

Chapter Two: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and its Application to Maugham’s The Razor’s Edge and Of Human Bondage

Chapter Three: The Characteristics of Self-actualized People in Maugham’s Two Novels: The Razor’s Edge and Of Human Bondage

Conclusion

Works Cited

Arabic Summary

Dedication

This study is wholeheartedly dedicated to my beloved parents who have been my source of inspiration and strength. They continually provide me with their moral, emotional, and financial support. Without their presence in my life and their sincere prayers, I could not be able to complete this thesis.

Acknowledgements

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor Prof. Abdulgawad Elnady for his continuous support, motivation, immense knowledge, and outstanding comments. I could not have imagined having a better advisor and mentor for my MA study. My sincere thanks also go to Dr. Ashraf Zidan for his useful feedback, help, guidance, and for his encouragement.

Besides my supervisors, I would like to thank my thesis committee members: Prof. Sayed Sadek, Professor of English Literature at Port Said University and Dr. Abdullah Albetebsy, Associate Professor of English Literature at Mansoura University for their insightful reading and comments.

I would also like to thank my family: my parents and my sisters for their prayers, support and motivation.

Thank you all!

Abbreviations

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Abstract

The main objective of this thesis is to examine William Somerset Maugham’s The Razor’s Edge and Of Human Bondage through Maslow’s Theory of Psychology . It tackles the aspects of the Third Force Psychology and its positive sides. It focuses on illustrating the strong relation between literature and psychology because they are inseparable and interdependent. Moreover, it reveals the needs of the characters of the two novels through Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. The study also illustrates that man desires and craves satisfying all of the basic needs in order to reach the highest level of self-actualization. Finally, it shows that there are some characteristics of self-actualized people that distinguish them from ordinary ones. It shows how self-actualized people are distinguished, successful and admired. Subsequently, it is interested in explaining how these qualities are applicable to the two protagonists.

Introduction

This thesis aims at analyzing The Razor’s Edge (1944) and Of Human Bondage (1915) by William Somerset Maugham through Abraham Maslow’s Theory of Motivation. First, it sheds light on the positive side of the theory (Third Force) and depicts the pessimistic side of the two previous Forces of Psychoanalysis and Behaviorism. It essentially deals with the idea that man is free and can use all of his potentialities to achieve the ultimate goal in his life which is self-actualization. Therefore, the study shows that the main characters of the two novels are free enough to satisfy their basic and deficiency needs in order to fulfill their growth need for self-actualization.

As a result, the thesis is divided into three chapters. The first chapter introduces some of the theorist’s life events that, in turn, affect his life and let him focus on such a positive theory. He thinks that man is not predetermined but has a great amount of freedom instead. Moreover, it highlights Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and its influence on people. Ordinary human beings have basic needs in their life that are important to be gratified. Amongst those deficiency needs are the needs for food, water, safety, belongingness, and the need for achievement and reputation.

According to Maslow, one cannot move to a higher need - only if s/he gratifies the lower one first. That is why he thinks that man is motivated to fulfill each need of the basic ones till s/he reaches the need for self-actualization. He also asserts that only few people can satisfy the supreme level of needs because the basic ones satiation may not be met continuously. Therefore, this chapter discusses -in detail- the difference between the deficiency and growth needs as well as their influences on forming people’s personalities. It also illustrates that there is a strong bond between literature and psychology. The latter may tend to study and analyze the fictional characters while the literary works form their characters through the psychological perspectives; it sounds that they intrinsically benefit from each other.

The second chapter tackles Maugham’s two novels and their relation to Maslow’s theory of motivation. It gives a hint to the reader about the novelist and his interest in the psychological aspects of his fictional characters. It also shows how Maugham is interested in human nature and its psychological concerns. It seems that some of Maugham’s literary works deal with the theme of self-fulfillment and growth. Through the two novels, the protagonists’ motivation can be found so that the chapter focuses on analyzing how the characters are somehow free and motivated in order to fulfill their deficiency needs to reach the highest level of self-actualization.

The last chapter explains that there are some characteristics that distinguish self-actualizing people from ordinary ones. The main point of this chapter is to reveal how those characteristics are applicable to both of the protagonists. It also shows how the main characters of the two novels manage to reach the supreme level of needs by expressing their characteristics as self-actualized persons. Maslow thinks that people who can satisfy their basic needs are able to reach the need for self-actualization. It is also important to know more about self-actualization by studying the qualities of the people who enjoy a great amount of this level.

Literature and Psychology are related to each other since both of them benefit from one another. The former, on one hand, is interested in studying and analyzing its characters through the psychological researches while the latter tends to explore the characteristics of human beings and their needs with the aid of the literary works. They are also connected to each other because they are concerned with the individual’s uniqueness; they estimate man’s thoughts, feelings and desires. Maugham is one of the writers who are concerned with the psychological aspects in most of their works. He was born in 1874 and is considered a prolific writer since he has many contributions to writing plays, novels, short stories and essays. Moreover, he has a persistent desire for exploring the positive sides in his characters; amongst them are those of The Razor’s Edge and Of Human Bondage. The reason of choosing these particular two novels is Maugham’s great interest in revealing the protagonists’ inner voices and needs for achieving self-actualization which is the highest level in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.

Chapter One

The Intersection of the Theory of the Third Force Psychology and Literature

This chapter shows the dimensions of the Third Force Psychology and their relation to literature. It first sheds light on the theorist’s life and how his life has a great effect on exploring the positive sides of human beings. Second, it concentrates on discovering the optimistic sides of the theory through depicting the defects and demerits of the two forces of Psychoanalysis and Behaviorism. Third, it focuses on illustrating the theory of Humanistic Psychology only from Maslow’s perspective. As a result, it deals with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and how it can be achieved to reach self-actualization. It also reveals the aspects of self-actualization and its characteristics. Finally, it shows how psychology can be applicable to literary works such as those of William Somerset Maugham’s.

Abraham Harold Maslow is considered the founder of Humanistic Psychology (Saeednia 94). He was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1908; he was the oldest child of seven children but he suffered a lot and lived an unhappy childhood. First, he was a Jewish immigrant child who came from Russia to New York so that his neighbors and friends began to despise and laugh at him. Second, he suffered from his parents’ maltreatment since he became resentful at the age of seventeen, when his father forced him to attend law classes at the city college of New York; the major that he did not love but he attended just to satisfy his parents (Boeree 3).

All these difficulties have led Maslow to find a refuge in the library where he finds his own interest. Reading different kinds of books had a great effect on broadening his mind. Hoffman describes it as follows: “he had plenty of leisure time in his teenage years, which he spent reading. Eventually, young Maslow developed idealistic notions to improving the world through science” (133). Therefore, it can be said that all those difficult circumstances have allowed Maslow to read more and to have a great vision whether in life or in psychology. He starts to put an idea in his mind that he has to help the world he lives in, and try to develop its notions and concepts through the science of psychology.

In 1928, Maslow transferred to the University of Wisconsin where he got his B.A. in 1930, MA in 1931, and PhD in 1934 - all in psychology. Moreover, he taught psychology classes at Brooklyn College in which he has become outstanding. Pfeifer states: “Maslow taught psychology for 14 years at Brooklyn College where he was one of few professors who cared for any of the largely immigrant student body. The students deeply appreciated his concern for them and Maslow quickly became the most popular teacher there” (265). He was likeable and appreciated by the students because of his kind and flexible attitude with them. He cared for them and was considered one of the most understanding teachers. Maslow then moved to Brandeis University to complete his career of teaching there. It was at Brandeis that he figured out the theory of human motivation (266). In addition, Boeree asserts that “Maslow served as the chair of the psychology department at Brandeis from 1951 to 1969 … It was also here that he began his crusade for a humanistic psychology- something ultimately much more important to him than his own theorizing” (3). Maslow died of a heart attack in 1970.

In Wisconsin, Maslow spent his time in the laboratory where he met his behaviorist professors. He spent his time working with them and did researches on the baby monkeys and the white rats to study human nature and behavior through those animals. Boeree says, “he spent time there working with Harry Harlow, who is famous for his experiments with baby rhesus monkeys and attachment behavior” (3). Furthermore, according to Hoffman, “all his professors were fervent behaviorists who believed that meaningful theories of human nature could best be developed by studying lower animals like white rats in laboratory settings” (133). Maslow was curious enough to discover human nature and motivation through studying animals and their motivators.

After that, Maslow rejected the ideas of psychoanalysis (First Force) and Behaviorism (Second Force) as he found out that both of them were not based on people’s motivations but on animals’ instead as Pfeifer says,

Maslow felt that Freud saw little difference between the motivations of humans and animals. While Freud has made a great many significant contributions to the study of psychology, Maslow argued that Freud's work was overly pessimistic and a crippled philosophy. Skinner, on the other hand, studied how pigeons and white rats learned. Maslow observed that Skinner's motivational models were based on simple rewards such as food and water, sex and avoidance of pain. (266)

For Maslow, Freud’s theory of Psychoanalysis lacks its interest in human behavior and is concerned with animals. Freud could not notice the difference between people and animals and thinks that they share the same interests and motivations. Skinner, the founder of Behaviorism, is criticized by Maslow too because his theory is based on animals and their simple motivations only like food and water. Maslow rejects all these ideas because he thinks that human behavior is much more complicated than that of animals.

Furthermore, it seems that Maslow rejects Behaviorism because of its empirical and scientific base. He criticizes it for that reason because he thinks that human beings cannot be studied scientifically or objectively like animals; simply because they are completely different and have different qualities and motivations as follows:

We may also reject the old, naive, behaviorism which assumed that it was somehow necessary, or at least more 'scientific' to judge human beings by animal standards. One consequence of this belief was that the whole notion of purpose and goal was excluded from motivational psychology simply because one could not ask a white rat about his purposes. (Maslow, “A Theory” 392)

Studying animals’ behavior is different from human beings’ because people can have goals and targets in their life but not animals.

In addition, McLeod argues that the two psychologies are deterministic and have no link with the theme of free will at all. Freud, on the one hand, focuses on the unconscious mind and argues that man’s actions and thoughts are controlled by the unconscious (Online). It is also pointed out that “the Freudians seem almost to say that the “higher life” [Unconsciousness] is just a set of defenses against the instincts [Consciousness], especially denial and reaction-formation” (Maslow, Peak-Experiences 7). Skinner, on the other hand, thinks that man’s behaviors are determined through the environmental circumstances that have a great effect on his/her behavior and choice. Consequently, it is understood that Psychoanalysis deals with internal determinism while Behaviorism deals with the external (McLeod, “Determinism” 2019, Online).

For Maslow, the other reason for abandoning the two forces of psychology is their pessimistic nature. They deal with the negative dark side of human nature instead of the positive one. Griffin et al state that:

Maslow thought that Freud’s pessimism was a logical result of looking at the dark side of the human psyche. ‘The study of crippled, stunted, immature, and unhealthy specimens can yield only a cripple psychology and a cripple philosophy.’ The behaviorism of B. F. Skinner offers little more hope. Since students of motivation spend most of their time studying the behavior of white rats, it’s no wonder they construct need models based solely on hunger, thirst, sex, and the avoidance of pain. If we must do animal research, Maslow asked, why not study the playfulness of monkeys or the affectionate loyalty of dogs? (124)

Maslow thinks they are crippled because of their lack of interest in positive terms like success, awareness, or fulfillment but their interest in the negative ones of unconsciousness and determinism instead. They only focus on studying the nature of animals and their feelings of hunger and thirst for example with no regard for human beings’ higher qualities of motivations and ambitions.

Because of all these rejected ideas of the two forces, Maslow has decided to create a new theory called the Third Force Psychology or Humanistic Psychology to compensate for the shortcomings of the previous ones. This is considered a positive theory since its “Psychologists have scant knowledge of what makes life worth living” (Lazarus 93). They focus on the positive sides of human beings and try hard to develop them. There are some basic assumptions of this theory. It begins with free will as Maslow thinks that people are free to do whatever they want to and that they are able to use all of their potentials; he states:

According to the new third psychology, the far goal of education as of psychotherapy, of family life, of work, of society, of life itself- is to aid the person to grow to fullest humanness, to the greatest fulfillment and actualization of his highest potentials, to his greatest possible stature. In a word, it should help him to become the best he is capable of becoming, to become actually what he deeply is potentially. (Peak-Experiences 49)

It shows that the Third Force Psychology focuses on man’s potentials and his or her urge toward achieving fulfillment and actualization. S/he has to use all of his or her abilities to become what s/he wants and desires. Hence, in Maslow’s opinion, man enjoys freedom and cannot be determined because s/he has a brain which is Allah’s gift and which definitely differentiates him from any other creature. Idemobi refers to that as follows: “indeed what makes man different from all other creatures is the ability to think … Indeed anything that gives us comfort, security and enjoyment as human beings is created by man’s thinking power” (169). He agrees with the idea that one’s ability of thinking is powerful and distinguishes him from the other creatures. That is why man has his special purposes that are extremely different from animals.

A further assumption of the theory is individuality since it is interested in studying the whole notion of the individual in a subjective way. It means that “the whole individual is motivated rather than just a part of him. In good theory there is no such entity as a need of the stomach or mouth, or a genital need. There is only a need of the individual. It is John Smith who wants food, not John Smith’s stomach” (Maslow, M. Personality 19). Maslow here explains that the individual’s desires are appreciated. Furthermore, this type of psychology deals with the individual as a respected and worthy creature as it sheds light on the new aspects of human behavior (Maslow, Peak-Experiences 70). It also opens the door to a better life and to the individual’s prosperity. Froh mentions that “its goals are to identify and enhance the human strengths and virtues that make life worth living, and allow individuals and communities to thrive” (18). The theory is concerned with improving individuals’ personalities and helps them to be more motivated and zealous to achieve higher goals in their lives.

The last and the foremost assumption is motivation. Maslow thinks that people are driven and motivated to achieve their personal potentials (Venter 65). It means that people, by nature, have goals and ambitions to be fulfilled. Maslow defines this kind of motivation by saying that “man is a wanting animal and rarely reaches a state of complete satisfaction except for a short time” (M. Personality 24). He also says, “if I were permitted this usage, I should then say simply that a healthy man is primarily motivated by his needs to develop and actualize his fullest potentialities and capacities” (57). Consequently, the normal one needs most of the time to be stimulated and urged to achieve some higher needs in his life to reach the level of self-actualization.

Maslow is considered the father of Humanistic Psychology. This movement started during the 1950s and became prominent in the 1960s as “during the 1960s, Maslow's name became closely linked with the burgeoning movement known as humanistic psychology” (Hoffman 135). Its main goal is to study how people are inherently motivated to satisfy their needs, as Hoffman says, “its foundation was his radical theory of motivation, which has come to be known as the hierarchy of inborn needs with its famous pyramidal structure” (134). Those needs take a pyramidal shape called A Hierarchy of Needs. They move from the bottom to the top as follows: Physical needs, Safety, Love/Belonging, Esteem, and Self-actualization.

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Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

These needs take the shape of the pyramid because of some reasons; first, they are related to each other. Maslow states: “there is usually such an overlapping that it is almost impossible to separate quite clearly and sharply any one drive from another” (M. Personality 26). He also believes that, “these basic goals are related to each other, being arranged in a hierarchy of prepotency” (Maslow, “A Theory” 394). This means that the lower need must be satisfied first before moving to the higher one (393). In other words, the individual seeks achieving the higher need only if the previous one is met as Satter says, “needs at each level must be satisfied before those at the next higher level can be experienced and addressed … Once people address current-level needs, they naturally become aware of and strive for achievement at a higher level” (187-188).

In addition, the theorist describes the first four levels as deficiency needs because they are basic and essential to be satisfied in order to reach the highest level of growth needs or self-actualization. In fact, the difference between the deficiency and growth needs is that the former can be fully gratified but the latter cannot reach the level of complete satisfaction since self-actualized persons attempt to grow and develop over and over again (Maslow, M. Personality 159). Moreover, growth needs are defined as “the continuous development of talents, capacities, creativity, wisdom and character, the various processes, which bring the person toward ultimate self-actualization” (Sengupta 104). Self-actualized people cannot satisfy the highest need ultimately simply because they are continuously motivated.

Maslow also states that a need that is satisfied is no longer a need as it becomes unimportant and neglected in the current dynamics of the individual (“A Theory” 375); he gives us an example to make it clear as he says,

It is quite true that man lives by bread alone -- when there is no bread. But what happens to man's desires when there is plenty of bread and when his belly is chronically filled? At once other (and 'higher') needs emerge and these, rather than physiological hungers, dominate the organism. And when these in turn are satisfied, again new (and still 'higher') needs emerge and so on. This is what we mean by saying that the basic human needs are organized into a hierarchy of relative prepotency. (375)

In other words, according to Maslow, the need that is well gratified is no longer an active motivator since it is forgotten or even denied (395). It means that when the individual manages to meet the need for food for example, he becomes able to think of other higher needs and to neglect this one totally. Null also states: “when a particular need is fulfilled in whole or in part, it tends to fade into the background as a motivator of human behavior. As it becomes of less importance to the individual, it is replaced wholly or partially by the next category of basic needs on the hierarchy” (349).

Maslow also argues that desiring anything means the satisfaction of other wants. For example, there is no desire to compose music or to adorn homes if the stomach is empty most of the time (M. Personality 24). Furthermore, if a man gives up his job for the sake of self-respect then finds himself starving, he will be willing to take his job back even at the price of losing his self-respect (52). In addition, Maslow confirms that if man is extremely hungry, no other needs will interest him except food (37). This confirms the idea that man cannot think of the higher needs unless he gets through satisfying his physiological needs first. In general, no higher needs will be met or gratified if there is no satisfaction of the previous levels of needs. Taormina and Gao argue that “multiple regression analy­ses revealed that the satisfaction of each higher-level need was statistically predicted by the sat­isfaction of the need immediately below it in the hierarchy, as expected from Maslow’s theory” (155).

Maslow also asserts that this satisfaction does not necessarily reach one hundred percent as he states:

If one need is satisfied, then another emerges. This statement might give the false impression that a need must be satisfied 100 per cent before the next need emerges … For instance, if I may assign arbitrary figures for the sake of illustration, it is as if the average citizen is satisfied perhaps 85 per cent in his physiological needs, 70 per cent in his safety needs, 50 per cent in his love needs, 40 percent in his self-esteem needs, and 10 per cent in his self-actualization needs. (“A Theory” 388)

It seems that each need has to be fulfilled at a specific degree to let other higher needs to be emerged. In this respect, Maslow provides another example as follows: “if prepotent need A is satisfied only 10 percent, then need B may not be visible at all. However, as this need A becomes satisfied 25 percent, need B may emerge 5 percent, as need A becomes satisfied 75 percent, need B may emerge 50 percent, and so on” (M. Personality 54). Consequently, one cannot move to a higher level unless he manages to let other lower needs be fulfilled as much as possible. For example, the need that is satisfied as seventy- five per cent leads to a higher possibility for the next need to emerge as fifty per cent.

Furthermore, the second reason why Maslow chooses the shape of the pyramid is that he thinks that the basic deficiency needs take much more time and effort to be gratified. Pfeifer states: “Maslow places his hierarchy of needs in a triangle-shape. This implies a few things: the lower level needs such as physiological, safety, belonging, and esteem take up more space and effort to satisfy than the upper levels, which seem to be less consuming or at least more focused” (270). Hence, the lower levels of needs take precedence and more space than the self-actualization level. That may be because there are only few people who can reach this stage as they may face and confront some drops and difficulties that force them to satisfy the basic needs first. Maslow states that self-actualization rarely happens and only one percent of people manage to meet this level (Psychology of Being 204). In this respect, McLeod argues that “every person is capable and has the desire to move up the hierarchy toward a level of self-actualization. Unfortunately, progress is often disrupted by a failure to meet lower level needs. Life experiences, including divorce and loss of a job, may cause an individual to fluctuate between levels of the hierarchy” (“Needs” 2020, Online). It is not easy at all to reach the level of self-actualization because one may find some blocks that limit his own path to the supreme stage of needs. Because of these blocks, man has to fulfill the basic needs first before moving to the higher level.

It is also believed that people who satisfy the basic needs are considered healthy characters because they have the ability to resist and withstand those needs more than average persons (Maslow, “A Theory” 387). It means that the satisfaction of the deficiency needs will ultimately lead to acquiring the sense of freedom (383). In contrast, thwarting or dissatisfying those needs can lead the person to be more violent and aggressive. In this regard, Griffin et al state that

Maslow was not stupid. He could read the newspaper as well as anybody else and was saddened by the daily reports of inhuman deceit and violence. But that was exactly his point. Lying, cheating, stealing, and murder are not what he thought human nature was meant to be. These are aberrant behaviors that occur when legitimate human needs are thwarted. (125)

Thus, according to Maslow, man is intrinsically good and does not hold within himself any of the bad qualities. Meanwhile, if one of his basic needs is threatened or ungratified, all of the inferior attributes begin to manifest themselves in a frightening way. For example, the individual may steal if he starves and needs food to eat urgently. As Pfeifer says,

Maslow felt that people were basically trustworthy, self-protecting, and self-governing. Humans tend toward growth and love, and although there is a continuous cycle of war, murder, and deceit, Maslow believed that human nature was not meant to be violent. Violence and other evils occur when human needs are thwarted. In other words, people who are deprived of basic needs such as food or safety may provide for their needs or defend themselves by violent means. Maslow did not believe that humans are violent because they enjoy violence, or that they cheat, lie, or steal because they like doing so. (267)

For Maslow, human beings are not violent by nature but thwarting or dissatisfying their deficiency needs may lead to the sense of violence. He thinks that they are intrinsically good but if they are prevented from such basic needs like food, they turn to be quite aggressive.

As for the Physiological Needs, they are considered the most basic and essential needs. Those are like the need for food, air, water, sleep, and sex (Maslow, M. Personality 36). According to Maslow’s theory, those needs are at the first stage of the pyramid which means that they are important for man to satisfy them before meeting the higher needs as he says, “undoubtedly these physiological needs are the most pre-potent of all needs” (“A Theory” 373). In other words, one cannot focus on the safety need if his belly is empty; consequently, filling the belly is more important than being safe as “a person who is lacking food, safety, love, and esteem would most probably hunger for food more strongly than for anything else” (373). Consequently, if someone is terribly hungry, nothing will be among his interests except food. Maslow continues identifying this point by saying: “freedom, love, community feeling, respect, philosophy, may all be waved aside as fripperies which are useless since they fail to fill the stomach” (374). For Maslow, to be psychologically healthy and to achieve self-actualization is to gratify the basic needs first: “healthy people have sufficiently gratified their basic needs ... so that they are motivated primarily by trends to self – actualization” (Psychology of Being 25).

Moreover, Griffin et al. argue that if one of the physiological needs is threatened, one can feel the sense of discomfort and of being unable to concentrate on the higher needs as follows: “physiological needs are basic: The body craves food, liquid, sleep, oxygen, sex, freedom of movement, and a moderate temperature. When any of these are in short supply, we feel the distressing tension of hunger, thirst, fatigue, shortness of breath, sexual frustration, confinement, or the discomfort of being too hot or cold” (127). It means that if man is deprived of water or food for example, he becomes incapable of being psychologically healthy. Therefore, one cannot ignore such important and essential needs and move forward to satisfy the next higher needs.

As for Safety Needs, they resemble the second level of the hierarchy. They can only be achieved by satisfying the physiological needs; as Maslow says, “if the physiological needs are relatively well gratified, there then emerges a new set of needs, which we may categorize roughly as the safety needs” (“A Theory” 376). In fact, the term safety can be divided into two categories: concrete and abstract. On one hand, the concrete needs are like the need for having a place or a house to live in, the need for money, or the need to be safe from wild animals and criminals. On the other hand, the abstract needs of safety are like the need for stability, warm neighborhood and the need to be safe from war, disease, or catastrophes. Taormina and Gao explain that by saying, “because this level of need is concep­tually higher than the previous level, the terms used as threats to safety refer to both concrete and abstract things, such as wild animals, criminal assault, disease, war, anarchy, social chaos, natural catastrophes” (157). They also add:

Maslow also gave examples of things that could satisfy the safety–security needs, such as a place where one can feel safe from harm (e.g., a shelter such as a house that gives protection from weather disas­ters), a guardian, or someone who can be relied on for help (e.g., a reliable police force), an ethical legal system, or a trustworthy government, and more ab­stractly, stability or structure in one’s life. (157)

In addition, there are other sides of safety needs between the two extremes, for example, the need for job security, savings account, medical insurance, and for retirement security (Maslow, “A Theory” 379). It means that those kinds of safety needs are at the average level but with high concern too. Getting a good job, for instance, is important for man to get money which is the gate to be financially secure enough. In short, safety needs refer to the lack of protection that may be physical, financial, or legal. Taormina and Gao point out that:

From these examples, safety–security needs may be defined as the lack of protections such as shelter from environ­mental dangers and disasters, personal protection from physical harm, financial protection from destitu­tion, legal protection from attacks on one’s rights to a peaceful existence, or a lack of stability in one’s life. (157)

By satisfying the two previous needs, the higher ones appear to be gratified too as “after these two basic needs are fulfilled, the remaining three-love, esteem, and self-actualization-become of consequence in that order to the individual” (Null 349). Maslow also says, “if both the physiological and the safety needs are fairly well gratified, then there will emerge the love and affection and belongingness needs, and the whole cycle already described will repeat itself with this new center” (“A Theory” 380). It means that after gratifying the physiological and safety needs, one has the persistent desire to love and to be loved by others. Therefore, those former needs are basic and fundamental for increasing one’s concerns and interests in Love needs. Maslow states: “now the person will feel keenly, as never before, the absence of friends, or a sweetheart, or a wife, or children. He will hunger for affectionate relations with people in general, namely, for a place in his group, and he will strive with great intensity to achieve this goal” (381). Humans -by nature- tend to be surrounded with people they love and to have acceptable relationships with them.

Since human beings are gregarious and sociable by nature, they tend to gather with their friends, to have a family, or to be a part of a community. Pfeifer confirms that “human beings are social by nature seeking out groups or individuals to form partnerships, friendships, and alliances with” (269). Moreover, the needs for love and belongingness mean a lack of close and intimate relationships with other people; as Taormina and Gao say:

A definition of the belongingness needs can be derived from Maslow’s initial theoretical conceptualization and from Baumeister and Leary’s review of the concept: a lack of close, lasting, emotionally pleasant interactions with other people, in groups as well as in intimate dyads that yield per­sonal relationships characterized by mutual affective concern. (158)

It can be noted that people seeking belongingness may be for example: family, friends, neighbors, spouses, children, and so on (Maslow, “A Theory” 381). For instance, it is by nature that one has to love his family and to speak freely with any member of that family. Moreover, having friends is so essential to share many different subjects, to gather, and to work as groups that can enhance one’s ability for loving not only people but also life itself. In general, one wants to gather with people, to be a part of them, to communicate with them, and most of all to love them.

In fact, the term ‘Love’ has two sides: to love others and to be loved by them. Basically, both of the two sides are available here in Maslow’s hierarchy level of love needs. They refer to the need for giving and receiving love (Maslow, “A Theory” 381). Man not only needs to love people but also to be loved by them and that may be because it is a natural instinct for all human beings instead of hatred. In this sense, Griffin et al mention that “for Maslow, giving love is seeking to fill a void by understanding and accepting selected others. Receiving love is a way of staving off the pangs of loneliness and rejection” (128). It means that all human beings need to give and receive love to avoid the sense of loneliness and refusal from others. Consequently, thwarting these needs will directly lead to loneliness, exclusion and disappointment. Baumeister and Leary state: “social exclusion may well be the most common and important cause of anxiety” (506).

Maslow also comments that “practically all theorists of psychopathology have stressed thwarting of the love needs as basic in the picture of maladjustment” (“A Theory” 381). Therefore, those needs are also basic and essential, and if they are discouraged or thwarted by any way, the person strives over and over again to restore and achieve them instantly. It is quite true that “many of the emotional problems for which people seek professional help (anxiety, depression, grief, loneliness, relationship problems, and the like) result from people's failure to meet their belongingness needs” (Baumeister and Leary 521). It sounds that by dissatisfying the love needs, one becomes resentful and the feeling of depression and disappointment starts to appear.

The need for esteem is the fourth level of Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs. It begins to arise after all the three previous needs have been met. Hence, after gratifying the first three levels, the individual becomes zealous to satisfy his entire need for esteem and respect. The need for esteem can be defined as the lack of self-respect or the lack of respect received from other people (Taormina and Gao 158). Because of this lack of respect whether of himself or of others, man seeks hard to diminish it as much as possible. The starting point is his self-respect and how to satisfy himself of being respectful which in turn let him be a respected one (esteem of others). According to Maslow, the word “esteem” has two sides of meaning: self-esteem or self-respect and esteem received from others as follows: “all people in our society (with a few pathological exceptions) have a need or desire for a stable, firmly based, (usually) high evaluation of themselves, for self-respect, or self-esteem, and for the esteem of others” (M. Personality 45).

As for self-esteem, Maslow considers it higher esteem and more important than esteem by others because it stands for achievement, confidence, independence, recognition, and strength (M. Personality 45). It means that those are the tools for satisfying the need for self-esteem. In other words, if one manages to achieve many precious things in his life, he will automatically believe in himself in ways that lead him to respect himself more than ever before. Moreover, its importance lies in the fact that satisfying self-esteem need has a great impact on increasing the feelings of self-confidence, capability, strength, and of being necessary in the world. By contrast, thwarting or dissatisfying this need will automatically lead to the sense of weakness, helplessness, and inferiority (Maslow, “A Theory” 382). In fact, there are variable degrees of self-esteem: low self-esteem and high self-esteem. For example, people with low self-esteem become more aggressive and hostile and their concern is to avoid being rejected; they only exert much effort to be likeable. On the contrary, people with high self-esteem are not worried about being accepted because they have a great amount of self-respect. That in turn can help them to be positive and not to focus on the negative feedback but on how to promote their wonderful qualities instead (Heatherton and Wyland 40).

As for esteem by others, it resembles reputation, prestige, appreciation, and attention. Maslow confirms that each one aspires to satisfy the need for being respected by others and that through being important and appreciated by people as follows:

These needs may be classified into two subsidiary sets. These are, first, the desire for strength, for achievement, for adequacy, for confidence in the face of the world, and for independence and freedom. Secondly, we have what we may call the desire for reputation or prestige (defining it as respect or esteem from other people), recognition, attention, importance or appreciation. (“A Theory” 381-382)

There is a big difference between love/belonging needs and esteem needs. Fundamentally, man not only needs to be a part of a community, but also to be respected and valued by it. It means that man needs to be accepted by people more than being loved and that is what Pfeifer refers to by saying that “most human beings need to feel not just loved but needed by their community. We need to feel that we can contribute something worthwhile” (269). Hence, one can easily be loved and be a part of a group of people, but it does not definitely mean that he/she is respected by them. Taormina and Gao also state:

A human being needs others with whom to interact to feel good about him­self or herself within a network of social relationships, which may satisfy the need for self-esteem. But it is not sufficient to only be a part of a group (especially if one is not respected by the group members). Thus, to have a fulfilling sense of esteem, one needs the respect of others as well. (159)

In a nutshell, communication or belonging to people is not the maximum need for a person to be emotionally sound but how to gain both self-respect and respect from others as well.

Self-actualization need is the highest level of the pyramid which begins to be urgent to be satisfied only after all the previous four needs have been met. Its basic definition is how to use one’s full potentialities to be whatever s/he wants to be. Maslow assures that this need refers to the desire for fulfilling the capabilities as he says, “even if all these needs are satisfied, we may still often (if not always) expect that a new discontent and restlessness will soon develop, unless the individual is doing what he is fitted for” (“A Theory” 382). In other words, after one manages to gratify the need for esteem and all the basic and deficiency ones, he directly aspires to reach the core and the intrinsic part of himself. It means that he begins to be whatever he is able to be.

Maslow also observes that self-actualization allows the person to become what he deeply is potentially and to use all of his talents just to reach the level of self-fulfillment (Peak-Experiences 49). By using the abilities, it becomes quite true for a person to be astonished because he reaches the sense of accomplishment which is the happiest moment ever. Thomas Edison mentions that “if we did all the things we were capable of, we would literally astound ourselves.” Maslow also tries to identify the need for self-actualization as he says, “it refers to the desire for self-fulfillment, namely, to the tendency for him to become actualized in what he is potentially. This tendency might be phrased as the desire to become more and more what one is, to become everything that one is capable of becoming” (“A Theory” 382).

As a matter of fact, self-actualization takes many forms such as the quest for knowledge, meaning of life, self-fulfillment, and self- awareness (Griffin et al. 130). First of all, it is quite true that self-actualization can also be referred to as the desire to know and understand. Every human being in every country and culture at this level becomes thrilled enough to discover what is happening around him and that can only be reached through the means of self-actualization of knowledge and understanding. It means that he wants to know more about the meaning of life. Consequently, in this stage, the need for searching and analyzing is increased; Maslow refers to this point as he says, “this process has been phrased by some as the search for 'meaning.' We shall then postulate a desire to understand, to systematize, to organize, to analyze, to look for relations and meanings” (“A Theory” 385). Moreover, according to Maslow, acquiring knowledge is a prominent and important aspect for the persons who have gratified the basic needs and reached self-actualization since it enhances his awareness towards life. In fact, they do not only have the desire to know more but also the curiosity to analyze (M. Personality 74). Maslow also states: “we shall postulate a basic desire to know, to be aware of reality, to get the facts, to satisfy curiosity, or as Wertheimer phrases it, to see rather than to be blind” (“A Theory” 385).

Furthermore, there are some characteristics of the self-actualized people. First, Maslow begins to explore and know more about the traits and characteristics of self-actualizers. He tends to do so only through studying the character of the healthiest people in all different fields from mathematics and music to literature and law (Hoffman 134). Examples of such people are Abraham Lincoln, Albert Einstein, Eleanor Roosevelt, Thomas Jefferson, Jane Adams, William James and others who meet the standard of self-actualization (Boeree 6). Maslow thinks that to discover the qualities of self-actualized people is through focusing on the ones who have the greatest potentials in achieving many great contributions to their fields. He mentions that

If we want to answer the question, how tall can the human species grow, then obviously it is well to pick out the ones who are already tallest and study them. If we want to know how fast can a human being run, then it is no use to average out the speed of the population, it is far better to collect Olympic gold medal winners and see how well they can do. If we want to know the possibilities for spiritual growth, value growth, or moral development in human beings, then I maintain that we can learn most by studying our most moral, ethical, or saintly people. (Farther Reaches 7)

Maslow believes that the best way to know more about the qualities of self-actualizers is to study the characters of successful people. It is important to look at the attitudes of extraordinary people rather than ordinary ones. For example, it is better to deal with the fastest people like the Olympic gold medal winners if it is essential to identify the speed of human beings.

One of the most prominent characteristics of self-actualizers is the acceptance of the self and the other. Actually, Maslow finds out that those kinds of people accept their true nature even if it includes some defects or shortcomings in their personality as he says, “our healthy individuals find it possible to accept themselves and their own nature without chagrin or complaint or, for that matter, even without thinking about the matter very much” (M. Personality 155). By the way, they also accept others as they are; they do not even think to change them because they are flexible and can deal with different kinds of people in a comfortable way. In this regard, Maslow states:

One does not complain about water because it is wet, or about rocks because they are hard, or about trees because they are green. As the child looks out upon the world with wide, uncritical, undemanding, innocent eyes, simply noting and observing what is the case, without either arguing the matter or demanding that it be otherwise, so does the self-actualizing person tend to look upon human nature in himself and in others. (156)

Self-actualizing people do not incline to criticize the others just because they are different from them; they tend to accept them as they are with no intention to change them at all.

The other characteristic of self-actualizing persons is spontaneity. Self-actualizers tend not to be artificial but to be simple and spontaneous instead. Maslow observes that “self-actualizing people can all be described as relatively spontaneous in behavior and far more spontaneous than that in their inner life, thoughts, impulses, etc. Their behavior is marked by simplicity and naturalness, and by lack of artificiality or straining for effect” (M. Personality 157). Boeree also mentions that “they preferred being themselves rather than being pretentious or artificial” (7). They tend to behave naively and avoid being fake; they also like to live a simple life without any sense of complexity.

In addition, those kinds of people are able and have the energy to solve the problems of people. They feel pleased when they listen to people’s problems and try to help them. Actually, they do not pay much attention to their problems but to others’ instead as it is mentioned “our subjects are in general strongly focused on problems outside themselves. In current terminology they are problem centered rather than ego-centered. They generally are not problems for themselves and are not generally much concerned about themselves” (Maslow, M. Personality 159). Moreover, according to Maslow, self-actualized persons tend to be quite detached and have some sort of privacy; they like the sense of solitude. Maslow makes this point clear as he says, “for all my subjects it is true that they can be solitary without harm to themselves and without discomfort. Furthermore, it is true for almost all that they positively like solitude and privacy to a definitely greater degree than the average person” (160). Their sense of detachment does not hurt anyone but rather it helps them to acquire much more freedom and comfort.

Furthermore, those people are dependent on their own potentialities and improvements rather than on their social environment; they are autonomous and independent persons. Maslow identifies this characteristic as he mentions that “self-actualizing people are not dependent for their main satisfactions on the real world, or other people or culture or means to ends or, in general, on extrinsic satisfactions. Rather they are dependent for their own development and continued growth on their own potentialities and latent resources” (M. Personality 162). In addition, he says that self-actualized people have the ability to praise and appreciate things in a naïve way. For example, such a person may see thousands of flowers but has the same feeling of wonder and loveliness as that of the first time (163). He also points out that self-actualizers have the so called peak-experiences. Actually, this term has several meanings but the most prominent one is that it is a self-justifying moment that can make life worthwhile and valuable (Peak-Experiences 62). He defines it more as he states: “the world seen in the peak-experiences is seen only as beautiful, good, desirable, worthwhile, etc.” (63).

Maslow also asserts that self-actualized people have profound interpersonal relations than anyone else (M. Personality 166). In other words, they give a sincere and devoted love for the ones whom they love most and that automatically interprets the fact that their circle of friends is pretty small (166). They are also described as democratic characters; this means that they are friendly enough with all kinds of people regardless of their class, education, race, or color (167). They also have no objection to be taught by others whom have something to teach. Even if the others have different characteristics, they ignore all that and focus on how to learn from them (168). Moreover, according to Maslow, such individuals have the capability of differentiating between what is wrong and what is right; he stresses that “these individuals are strongly ethical, they have definite moral standards, they do right and do not do wrong” (168). In addition, such people are humorous and funny characters but it is important to explain that their sense of humor is not hostile (169). It means that they do not hurt any person by laughing at his flaws.

Those people are creative. The word ‘creativity’ in itself does not include only writing books or composing music but also any other kind of activity where the person is capable of producing the sense of newness and the spirit of innovation (Maslow, M. Personality 171). Furthermore, self-actualized people do not find the culture of their society as an obstacle to achieve their targets but rather they tend to resist and be detached from the restrictions of the community (171-173). The last one of self-actualizers’ characteristics is that they are not perfect despite all of these good qualities (175). Maslow explains that as he says, “these people are not free of guilt, anxiety, sadness, self-castigation, internal strife, and conflict” (176). In other words, although self-actualizers own many good qualities that can make them superior to average people, it does not guarantee that they are totally perfect; they are not complete and they may have some flaws in their characters too.

Basically, there is an intimate relationship between literature and psychology since the former tends to explore human behavior through fiction. Literature in itself seeks to portray the character’s inner voices and sensations perfectly. It really has a great deal with all the psychological aspects of its characters. Psychology, on the other hand, studies the same aspects of the individual’s behavior through its psychological researches as follows:

Literature and psychology are two branches of science that study human soul. Psychology researches human behaviors and their causes while literature depicts human behavior through fiction … Literary works study human beings and describe their inner world with all its aspects. The reason is that a literary work is at the same time a product of a certain psychological condition. A literary work supports psychology in terms of depicting human psychological conditions. (Emir 49)

In this respect, Moghaddam also states that psychology and literature are related to each other; since both of them aim at understanding the individuals’ behaviors and their mental life (505). Both of them tend to discover the human’s behavior, thoughts, and actions. It seems that they deal with the individual as a unique creature that should be studied and analyzed precisely. In a word, they try to show the qualities of people and their true nature since they are interested in exploring human experiences (507).

As a result, it can be understood that there is a great bond between literature and psychology as both of them deal with the psychological aspects of the individual. It is mentioned that “it is obvious enough that psychology, being the study of psychic processes, can be brought to bear upon the study of literature, for the human psyche is the womb of all the sciences and arts” (Jung 217). Human beings and all of their emotions, fears, or desires are all depicted whether in literature or in psychology. Aras also states: “there is a very strong correlation between literature and psychology for the fact that both of them deal with human beings and their reactions, perceptions of the world, miseries, wishes, desires, fears, conflicts and reconciliations; individual and social concerns by means of varied concepts, methods, and approaches” (251). Therefore, both of them are closely related to each other in a way that psychology, for example, makes use of literary works just to identify the characteristics of the human spirit and vice versa (256). Jung also states: “psychology and the study of art will always have to turn to one another for help, and the one will not invalidate the other” (218).

Psychology also benefits from literature as the literary works are considered an important source of inspiration for the science of psychology; it explores and deals with the individual’s emotions, behaviors and mental processes from a scientific perspective (Emir 52). Literature has the ability to influence the thoughts and actions of the reader exactly like what psychology does with the contents of literature (Moghaddam 510). Moreover, psychological theories enable people to have a meaningful insight of human being’s development and the world. Therefore, the reader who reaches the state of a complete understanding of a work of art tends to study the science of psychology accurately (Rezaei and Seyyedrezaei 1911). In other words, the reader automatically has the desire to know more about psychology because it is observed and manifested in the literary works. Thus, psychology helps to understand the characters of the literary works and is accurate in presenting such fictional characters and expressing their moods successfully (Emir 49). Therefore, both psychology and literature are interested in human beings and their personalities.

Literature is considered one of the most fundamental means to understand human nature (Aras 256). It enhances the sense of perception of human behavior through its fictional characters; it is also noted that “literature teaches a diversity of themes and notions about feelings, reactions, tensions, anxieties, motives, desires and numerous occasions, related to man and existence” (256). Aras also states: “literature enables individuals to know and question their identities by raising consciousness and awareness. It is to be noted that man and existence have always been fundamental elements in most scientific studies, fine arts, and literature” (251). Literature is easier for understanding human behavior than psychology; so the reader finds it possible to understand the character’s thoughts and actions through the literary works (Moghaddam 508-509). In other words, the literary works are easier to be read and can go through the fictional character’s sensations and thoughts while Psychology makes it easier for the readers to understand, absorb and analyze the psychological behavior of the person. That is why literature and psychology complete each other consistently.

Learning more about the human psyche and behavior can easily be achieved through literature. For example, the reader begins to know more about man’s personality and his inner feelings through literature. Therefore, it is easier to recognize the personality of human beings from the literary works than from the psychological researches. Lodge asserts that “we will always learn more about human life and personality from novels than from scientific psychology” (10). Besides, literature deals with the real life as it depicts fictional characters with real manners and attitudes that allow readers to recognize human nature and behavior easily. Allen also asserts that “we find a close imitation of man and manners; we see the very web and texture of society as it really exists, and as we meet it when we come into the world” (14).

The Third Force psychology is applicable to literary works; on one hand, this third force deals with people’s development. Literature, on the other hand, penetrates through the characters’ inner feelings and behaviors. In reality, both literature and humanistic psychology benefit from each other since human beings are among their main concern as “psychological elements will be present in literary works as long as humans are the theme of the text” (Emir 50). They complete each other in a distinguishing way since the individual is regarded the most important aspect of their studies. It can also be noted that this theory helps the individual to be open to practice new and novel experiences in untraditional way and that exactly what the literary works try to explore through the fictional character. Rezaei and Seyyedrezaei elaborate that “Rogers and Maslow's term "openness to experience" enrich theoretical and practical criticism and also would help generations of readers to become close readers of texts” (1909).

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