Comparative Study of Journey to the West and Around the World in Eighty Days Based on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Need

Abstract

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs tells us that people’s demands have something in common. From the lower to the higher level, human demands can be divided into fi ve categories – physiological needs, safety needs, love and belonging, esteem, and self-actualisation. In Journey to the West, we can see that when faced with diffi culties, diff erent characters will react in diff erent ways because of diff erent needs. Among them, Monkey King demonstrates the highest level— of self-actualisation. While in the novel Around the World in Eighty Days, Phileas Fogg also shows his need for self-actualisation. Although the two characters have the same condition, the thoughts and the way they use to self-actualize are diff erent. In the past, when studying Journey to the West, the scholars focused on how this book was fi nished, the author, the copies, literal contributions and the symbolisation of the characters. When referring to Around the World in Eighty Days, studies are often about the author and the social eff ects that the book makes. This paper will study how the environment aff ects the people attached to it in the way and the need they actualise themselves. It will help the readers understand the works better and study further the eff ects that the environments can have have the forming and actualisation of self-esteem.