The House of the Spirits

Composition

100 points

The House of the Spirits is a complex story with very complex characters. Each has many different dimensions and needs. And the reader sees the characters change throughout the book. These changes correspond with Abraham Maslow’s theory of the Hierarchy of Needs, a theory that states people achieve self-actualization by motivating themselves to fulfill a series of different needs. Your objective for this paper is to analyze three different characters form The House of the Spirits using Maslow’s theory.

For each character, you must show evidence of when and how that person displays each need, whether that need is satisfied, and if so, how is it satisfied. Not every character will reach the step of self-actualization, and there will be needs that they have but never fulfill. For example, Amanda meets her physiological needs (hunger, thirst, etc.), her safety needs (through Jaime), and her love needs (through Miguel). However, she never meets her esteem needs, never finding success or prestige. Therefore, without this last step, she can not achieve self-actualization.

Everyone MUST use Esteban Trueba as one of the characters to analyze. In your opinion, does he read self-actualization by the end of the book? Make sure to give examples of how he fulfills each need and a defense to how you feel about his self-actualization (or lack of).

Choose TWO other characters to analyze from the following list:

Clara Nicolàs

Blanca Alba

Jaime Ferula

Requirements

• 4-6 pages, typed, double-spaced, 12 point Times New Roman font
• Proper heading and header
• use at least ONE QUOTE PER CHARACTER
• follow MLA guidelines
• Works Cited page for The House of the Spirits and the Maslow article on the web (and any other sources you may choose to use)
• Please don’t forget to title your masterpiece

This is you last paper of the year, so give it all you’ve got. And remember, there is no revision for this one, so do your best. Good Luck!

Due Date: Tuesday, May 24 by 8:15 am