From here, the narrator knows that Esther makes relationships with many different people. All of them have a piece of cloth from Esther, which she says is
given by a soldier before he died in a war. She is able to build relationships with people from different backgrounds and they all accept her.
4.3 The Narrator’s Motivation in Bringing Back His Wife, Esther
Most people in the world, whether they realize it or not, live in an organized way. They manage their daily activities. They know when they have to
go to work or to school, to go with friends, to visit relatives, to have a vacation, or just to enjoy the day with the person they love. Everything goes like they want
and they do not have to worry about it. But what if something unexpected happens? Most people do not prepare themselves for the unexpected things. They
are happy with what they are and what they have. So, when something unexpected happens, they do not know what to do.
The same condition also happens on married life. The narrator in the novel The Zahir is left by his wife, Esther. Esther’s disappearance is an
unexpected thing for the narrator. He thinks he does not have problems in his marriage. He does not quarrel with Esther before she leaves. There are some
disagreements that usually happen in ordinary marriages but not serious problems. He states his opinion to the policeman on the day Esther leaves.
He asks me if we have domestic problems. I say that we’ve been together for ten years and have the same problems most married couples have –
nothing more 6. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
Esther’s disappearance leaves the question why to the narrator. He thinks of some reasons why she leaves him and wonders where she is. As mentioned in
chapter 2, people’s behavior is influenced by certain motives. These motives lead them to behave in their manner to get some achievement. Motivation seems to
provide the “Why” of behavior. To discover why the narrator wants to bring back his wife, Esther, the theory of motivation especially Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
is utilized. According to Maslow, there are five basic needs in the hierarchy of needs.
They are physiological needs, safety needs, belonging and love needs, esteem needs, and self-actualization needs. Maslow argues that usually the lowest need on
the hierarchy has to be satisfied first before the higher needs on the hierarchy being satisfied Goble 38-43.
The lowest need is physiological need. It includes food, clothing, shelter and self-preservation. His work as a bestselling novelist makes him rich and
popular. He has a house in Paris, but sometimes spends his days in a luxurious hotel.
I decide not to go home. I go over to reception, ask for a room, and some deodorant. The hotel is full, but the manager fixes things for me: I end up
with a lovely suite looking out at the Eiffel Tower, a terrace, the rooftops of Paris, the lights coming one by one, the families getting together to
have Sunday supper 16.
It shows that shelter, food, and other self-preservation needs are not things that the narrator has to worry about. Because the narrator is a wealthy person, he is able to
satisfy the physiological needs. After this need is satisfied, the narrator demands for higher need, the safety needs.
4.3.1 Fulfilling the Narrator’s Safety Needs
Maslow states that the insecure person has a compulsive need for order and stability and goes to great lengths to avoid the strange and unexpected Goble
40. In the novel, Esther’s disappearance is an unexpected thing. Moreover, the narrator feels insecure when a day after Esther’s disappearance all the media starts
to talk about it. His face shows up in many front covers of newspapers, tabloids and magazines. They write about Esther’s disappearance.
Immediately after leaving a prison, I appeared on the covers of various scandal sheets: they began by alleging a possible crime, but, in order to
avoid ending up in court, they always concluded with the statement that I had been cleared. Cleared? I hadn’t even been accused 45.
Those articles make him uncomfortable. They write the chronological story and also the hypotheses of Esther’s disappearance but some writings often
force him into a corner. The media are not only in France but also across Europe and they all write about it.
Then they returned to the attack, alleging that my wife had run away because of my many extramarital affairs; a German magazine even hinted
a possible relationship with a singer, twenty years my junior, who said she had met me in Oslo, in Norway… The singer said that there was nothing
between us so why put a photo of us in the cover? 46.
4.3.2 Fulfilling the Narrator’s Belongingness and Love Needs
Esther is the narrator’s fourth wife. He gets divorced from his third wife
and meets Esther. Their first meeting is when Esther as a journalist interviews him
as a popular author. At first, it is the narrator who falls in love with Esther. I fall in love, but she is not remotely interested. When I phone, she always
says she’s busy. The more she rejects me, the more interested I become, PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
