Physiological Needs as the only Fulfilled Needs

21 Hope’s needs for food, drink, clothes and shelter are fulfilled abundantly considering her background from a rich, old family. She is an only child, and she describes her family background in this statement, “My father is a bank chairman, my grandfather a doctor of international acclaim. My mother stayed home in our beautiful house to raise me, as mothers did then” Donahue 1. Since Hope’s father is a bank chairman, he must be able to support their family financially and earn enough money to buy food, drink, and clothes for her. Since Hope’s mother is a stay-at-home housewife, she must have enough time to provide food, drink, and clothes for Hope. Since Hope is an only child, she does not have to compete with other siblings for those needs. Hope’s need for shelter to live and sleep comfortably is also fulfilled. She grows up in a “beautiful house” located in “a tiny enclave of Los Angeles called Hancock Park, an area as renowned for its stately mansions and old-money families” Donahue 1. Besides food, drink, clothes, shelter, and a lot of money, her additional needs are also fulfilled, thus ensuring that she can live comfortably. For example, she gets her own car at a very young age as a gift from her parents, while most other young people must save for a long time before they can afford such a luxury. She can enroll at a good college, while many other people must apply for a scholarship, as shown in her comment “I never had to apply for a college scholarship or save for a new car. These things were given to me” Donahue 1. Her need to have sex is fulfilled after she enters adulthood. With her good looks and good clothes, she never has any difficulty finding a partner. There are 22 so many men who are interested in her and willing to have sex with her. As she admits herself, she lost her virginity in college. Furthermore, in college, she keeps changing boyfriends. She dates many men, choosing and dumping them as she wishes. To compensate for the incompetence I felt in the classroom, I embarked on a series of small, brutal romantic victories. I had always been fickle when it came to boyfriends. Except for Hart, with whom I’d played a cat-and- mouse game, I picked up and dropped suitors like trying on clothes. One boyfriend called me “the ultimate Gemini.” At Berkeley, my romantic dysfunction kicked into high gear. I dated a series of my classmates, none for longer than a few months. I was proud of my reputation as a female Lothario, someone who usually tired of men before they tired of me Donahue 27. As implied by the quotation above, Hope can easily pick up a boyfriend to fulfill her physiological sexual need among her “series of small, brutal romantic victories”, if she wants to. After college, there are still other men who approach her and are interested in her, so she can still choose a man to fulfill her sexual need easily. Therefore, physiological needs do not form a part of Hope Donahue’s motivation in doing plastic surgery. Her action of doing plastic surgery is not motivated by the physiological needs, because these needs are already fulfilled even without plastic surgery.

4.2 Safety Needs as the Motivation in Doing Plastic Surgery

Safety needs refer to the need for regularity and stability. Thus, a human being will work hard to avoid strange and unexpected things Maslow 70. These needs are not fulfilled in Hope Donahue’s life. 23 Her needs for regularity and stability are not fulfilled. This is mainly caused by the conditions in her family. Hope grows up surrounded by instability and unexpected shocks since she was a young child. Despite their material perfection, Hope’s family is not solid. Her mother is aggressive, volatile and a little neurotic, while her father is passive and awkward. They fight and argue in front of Hope frequently and openly for no good reason. Hope states that “My parents fight over the most trivial things; my mother’s anger and unhappiness bubble up often and unexpectedly, like dinosaur bones in the nearby La Brea tar pits” Donahue 65. Another example of Hope’s parents’ fighting is depicted below. My parents returned to the apartment late that night with a great slamming of doors and shouting. Listening in my room, I gathered that my mother had drunk too much and done something embarrassing with Wild Bill. She was slurring her words, laughing and weeping at the same time. I could tell my father was very angry because he kept his voice especially low and steady Donahue 40. Hope’s mother’s volatile characteristic changes her behavior unpredictably from time to time. Sometimes she is nice and close, yet sometimes she is distant and cruel to Hope. Hope describes her mother’s “craziness” as “a temporary state, like snow blindness, something that overtook her from time to time but which she ultimately had control over” Donahue 21. She never knows what to expect and how to behave in front of her mother. When she is being nice and close, she treats Hope like a best friend, as shown in the following quotations. She always talked to me like a best girlfriend, like we were the same age. “What would I do without you, sweet apple? she’d say, and I would feel the hum of our special closeness. I’d think, So what if my mother is a little nuts? Weren’t most beautiful women crazy? Donahue 20