This study focuses on the kinds of human needs experienced by the main character, Emoni Santiago, and the characteristics of self-actualization reflected in her character in With the Fire on High. It aims to describe Emoni’s basic human needs and to identify the characteristics of self-actualization reflected in her character.
This study used Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs theory and employed a descriptive qualitative research method to analyze the data collected from narration, dialogues, and monologues in the novel With the Fire on High. The primary data of this study were taken from the novel With the Fire on High, while the secondary data were obtained from books, journals, e-books, and relevant websites related to the research topic. In collecting the data, this study followed several steps, including reading the novel, identifying the data, classifying the data, and reducing the collected data based on the study focus.
The results of this study showed that Emoni Santiago fulfilled the basic human needs based on Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy, including physiological needs, safety needs, love and belongingness needs, esteem needs, and self-actualization. This study also found several characteristics of self-actualization reflected in Emoni’s character, including acceptance of self, others, and nature, spontaneity, simplicity, and naturalness, problem-centering, the need for privacy, autonomy, continued freshness of appreciation, peak experience, Gemeinschaftsgefühl, profound interpersonal relations, and creativeness.
Keywords: abraham maslow, hierarchy of needs, characteristic of self-actualized people, with the fire on high