Daddy Long Legs by Jean Webster published by Gramedia on May 27, 2023, is a novel that tells a journey of an orphan girl, named Jerusha Abbott who got an educational support to become a writer by an unknown man that Jerusha always called “Daddy Long Legs”, since she could only see his tall shadow. This study aims, first, to depict how are the different levels in Jerusha Abbott of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs; second, to explain Jerusha’s self–actualization characteristics; and third to find out how self-acceptance can influence Jerusha Abbott in achieving self–actualization.
This study used qualitative research methodology. The primary data were taken from the novel of Daddy Long Legs which includes dialogues and narrations. Articles, journals, books, previous research were taken as a secondary data. Several steps were done to collecting the data, such as reading the novel, identifying the data, classifying the data, and reducing the data.
The results of this study are first Jerusha Abbott can fulfill the five of hierarchy of needs, such as physiological needs, safety needs, love and belongings needs, esteem needs, and self-actualization. Second, Jerusha shows nine characteristics of self-actualization, such as acceptance of self, others, and nature; spontaneity, simplicity, and naturalness; autonomy; continued freshness of appreciation; the peak experience; profound interpersonal relations; discrimination between means and ends; philosophical sense of humor; creativeness. The third is five characteristics of self-acceptance are reflected by Jerusha Abbott, showing that five characteristics can influence Jerusha in achieving self-actualization.
Keywords: Daddy Long Legs, hierarchy of needs, self – actualization, self – acceptance.