The critically acclaimed novel “Lord of The Flies” written by William Golding incorporates several psychological components and aspects in the writing. The novels writing links to relevant psychological theories such as Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. This essay will be examining the connections between Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and the Lord of the flies. Furthermore, this piece of writing will touch on the psychological theory behind it and the overall link between the two. The first paragraph will delve into the psychological theory. The second and third paragraphs will discuss the connections and how they relate. Lastly, the fourth will conclude.
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is composed of what Abraham Maslow theorizes to motivate people and is made up of five tiers of different needs. This is usually represented as hierarchal levels in a pyramid. Individuals cannot fulfill the higher needs without first satisfying and achieving the lower needs. From the bottom to the top, the needs are physiological, safety, love/belonging, esteem, and lastly self-actualization. These five tiers of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs are divided into two separate categories. The first four needs or levels are known as deficiency needs. This means if any of the first four needs are not met over a prolonged period, the individual will become motivated to fulfill such needs.
Furthermore, the longer the time the individual’s needs are not fulfilled, the stronger the motivation to satisfy them. For instance, the longer a person is deprived of water, the more they will crave for it. The second category is called growth or being needs. This category consists of the top level. The motivation to achieve self-actualization or growth needs arises from not the lack of a need not being fulfilled, but actually from the determination to become better as a person. In summary, deficiency needs and growth needs can be seen as opposites in terms of motivation. The more deficiency needs are met, the lower the motivation. On the other hand, the more growth needs are met, the more the motivation increases.
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Maslow’s hierarchy of needs ties quite closely to the motivation behind the savagery and animalistic behavior displayed by several characters throughout the novel Lord of The Flies. The overall topic of the story regards a group of unaccompanied minors stranded on an island. William Golding exploits this theme through his knowledge of psychology and associates the plot to popular psychological theories. Jack and his hunt are believed to represent the inherent evil in humanity. This is conveyed through a couple of situations. First of all, Jack and his hunt are responsible for the death of Simon.
Over the course of the novel, Simon reaches self-actualization through his lone adventures and journey to the top of the mountain. Note that self-actualization is quite similar to enlightenment. Simon has all of his basic needs met due to his friendship with Ralph and his relationships with the younger boys. Not to mention, he was unafraid and did not believe in this “beastie”. Because of this Simon has achieved self-esteem, love/belonging, safety, and physiological needs. In the middle of the novel, Simon realizes in actuality that the beast is the evil lurking in the children’s minds. After this, Simon plans to enlighten the others, inform them of what he has learned, and help the children achieve self-actualization. Sadly, before Simon can do this he is brutally murdered by the hands of Jack and his hunt. The children have killed the one child who did achieve self-actualization. Because of this, Jack and his hunt are now portrayed as antagonists and this ultimately proves how humans are inherently evil. The innate wickedness in humanity is the cause of people never achieving self-actualization and in the novel, this prevents the children from believing they will ever leave the island.
All of the children in the novel all fulfill the lowest demand for Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. They all achieve the basic physiological needs. At the beginning of the plot, the children fulfill their need for water and food from fruits, water collected using coconut shells and ate roasted pig meat. Furthermore, to achieve a sense of safety by creating shelters made up of logs, leaves, and more. This gave the children a sense of home and place. While also fulfilling the necessity of safety. This is the second demand of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. They were kept safe by scouting the island for any threats and found a reassurance of safety in numbers. Most characters in the novel never achieved a higher demand for the hierarchy of needs due to how the children dealt with their fear. You cannot move on higher in the hierarchy without first fulfilling the lower levels. Most children never got over their fear of the “beastie” and this jeopardized their feeling of safety. Therefore, most children especially the littluns could not progress any further in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Ralph repeatedly tries to convince the children “but there isn’t a beastie”. (P.36)
In conclusion, William Golding incorporates several psychological components and aspects of his writing. The psychological theory of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is displayed throughout the novel and is evidently influential. This examination essay has successfully analyzed several connections and relations. Furthermore, the audience can learn from Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to pinpoint the hidden meanings and conceptual messages within the written text of Lord of The Flies.
References
- Simply Psychology – Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
- Verywell Mind – Understanding Maslows’s Hierarchy of Needs
- Google Books – Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs in Education: A Critical Interpretation
- YouTube – Understanding Maslow’s Pyramid of Needs
- PsychAlive – Motivation and Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
- CiteSeerX – The Motivational Basis of Maslow’s Hierarchy Theory
