Maslow's Hierarchy Of Needs In Life Of Pi

To understand the psychological motivation in human beings, we must examine Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. The Life of Pi is a novel about an Indian boy lost at sea, accompanied only by a Bengal tiger. These circumstances allow the author to emphasize the needs we must have to induce certain behaviors. In The Life of Pi, Yann Martel uses events to signify each stage of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. To fully comprehend this, each stage in the pyramid must be analyzed. Pi, lost at sea where food and water are severely scarce, puts him down all the way to the bottom of the pyramid of physiological needs.* From the moment the ship sank, all that was on his mind was to find all sources to survive before worrying about anything else. His ethics of being vegetarian and Hindu were clearly disregarded through the savage butchering of all the animals he comes by, which he must do to survive. In the beginning, the first sign of this was when he lost all sense of fear and safety to go on the boat and find sources of water, as he was becoming dehydrated. “Now that the word had popped into my head I couldn’t think of anything else, as if the

The portrayal of his character as being highly moral and religious in the beginning of the story were destroyed in his search of satisfying his basic physiological needs by turning into savagery. At many points in the story, Pi sees himself no different to Richard Parker as we are all animals looking to survive. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and the story of The Life of Pi, demonstrates that our minds are controlled in stages, in which one set of needs must be satisfied before reaching the satisfaction of another. To understand the psychology of the human mind which allows us to reach the highest of stages of achievement, one must realize the darkest depths a mind can turn to in order to