Hierarchy Of Needs

I think that Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is more relevant than Reader Response Theory to my study of the novel A Long Way Gone. It is very easy to see how Ishmael’s behaviour is shaped by his motivation to achieve certain levels of Maslow’s Hierarchy. The novel starts out by showing the reader that Ishmael was a normal, happy, confident boy, as seen when Ishmael talks of how he and some friends “had started a rap and dance group when [he] was eight” (17). Ishmael has a caring community and loving family until war reaches his village and forces him to struggle to attain basic needs, such as shelter, food and safety. Ishmael’s behaviour become’s governed by the needs that are no longer being met by a family as evidenced when Ishmael tells of