The Third Level: Love and Belongingness Needs

So, the main character tried to fulfill the safety needs and then he got an accident. Then, he was treated in the hospital and he realized that he could not go back to the past. It was narrated below: Slowly, I began to realize that I could not go back and force things to be as they once were: those two years, which up until then had seemed and endless inferno, were now beginning to show me their true meaning. Coelho 2005, 145 The main character realized that he could not go back and force things as previously. He also realized, those two years, which made him suffer. In the other word, he realized what he had done in two years. So, it made him got the stability and safety without Esther’s presence. According to the explanation above, it can be concluded that main character can fulfill his safety needs. It can be seen when he said that he realized what he has done in two years, including when he sought both adventure and security. So, when he was thinking about thing that has happened in his life, he was conscious from his unconsciousness that he has got what he thought, security and stability. In this case, the main character can fulfill his needs without Esther’s presence. Therefore, the safety need of main character is fulfilled.

c. The Third Level: Love and Belongingness Needs

If both physiological needs and safety needs are fairly well fulfilled, there will appear the new needs, love and belongingness needs. If love and belongingness needs are not fulfilled, then human being will feel keenly, because of the absence of friends, or a sweetheart, or a wife, or children. Human being will hunger for affectionate relations with people in general, namely, for a place in his group or family, and he will strive with great intensity to achieve the goal. Human being will want to attain such a place more than anything else in the world and even though forget that once, when he is hungry, he belittles at love as unreal or unnecessary or unimportant. Now, he will feel sharply the lack of loneliness, lack of ostracism, lack of rejection, lack of friendlessness, and lack of rootlessness. As human being in general, the main character, needs friends, sweetheart, or wife. When he realized his wife leave him, he searched for a woman who could give love as Esther, his wife. But, he felt that only Esther could give love and remove his loneliness. Furthermore, the main character was often belittled her. After her leaving, he realized that he needs love from Esther, even though, so many women that offer love for main character because he was a famous novelist and rich. He was searching for Esther continuously. His searching for many years proved that how much the main character loves Esther. It could be seen that there was no woman that can replace the position of Esther. It was narrated below: We were friends, companions, we enjoyed the something; I would even go so far as to say that there was between us a kind of love, but different from the love I felt for Esther or that Marie felt for her neighbor. Coelho 2005, 49 The main character explained that both of them were just friends. They often did something together. Moreover, Marie accompanied him in searching of Esther. She could not replace the position of Esther in main character’s heart. Actually, they love each other, but he only felt that his love for Esther bigger than his love for Marie. But, one thing that should be emphasized, as it is explained previously in the physiological needs, Maslow argued that love is not a synonymous of sex. Sex may be studied as a purely physiological need. Ordinarily sexual behavior is multidetermined, that is to say, determined not only by sexual but also by other needs, chief among which are the love and belonging needs. Also not to be overlooked is the fact that the love needs involve both giving and receiving love. Therefore the main character searched Esther. He felt only Esther that he loves more than his love to himself. It is narrated below: Esther, the Zahir. She fills everything she is the only reason I am alive. I look around, I prepare my self for the talk I am to give, and I understand why I braved the snow, the traffic jams, and the ice on the roads: in order to be reminded that every day I need to rebuild my self to accept—for the first time in my entire existence—that I love another human being more than I love my self. Coelho 2005, 52-53 The main character needs Esther’s presence. He told that Esther was everything and his reason of life. Moreover, he was understood why he so brave to do something, because his loves to Esther was everything for him. His love to Esther made him got spirit to find her and to know that Esther love him or not. That effort made him certain that Esther was waiting for him. It was narrated below: Esther was somewhere, waiting patiently for me to discover what had gone wrong in our marriage and then to go to her and ask her forgiveness so that we could resume our life together. Coelho 2005, 103 Esther was waiting patiently for the main character in somewhere. Waiting the main character realized his mistakes and searching and asking her forgiveness. Then, they lived together as previously. From the analysis above, the main character has strong effort to fulfill his need. Namely, he wants to know that Esther loves him or not. His certainty that Esther is waiting for him patiently makes him can fulfill his love needs. He feels that Esther waiting for him because loves him. So, it can be concluded that love and belongingness needs of the main character are fulfilled.

d. The Fourth Level: Self-Esteem Needs