FreeEssay Sample on Maslow and Cast Away Movie

The movie Cast Away tells us the story of a young man Chuck Noland, who is stuck on an island after a terrible plane crash that leaves him to survive. His struggles, rise and fall, depicts Maslow's hierarchy of needs. The five stages of the hierarchy are of needs are physiological which include food, shelter and clothing, safety that include security, stability and freedom from fear, belonging which entails family friends and a lover, self-esteem that include achievement and recognition and self-actualization which entails pursuant of inner talent, creativity and fulfillment. Maslows hierarchy of needs is depicted in its entirety in the movie as mentioned above.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

The first level in Maslows hierarchy of needs is the psychological needs that include food, shelter, clothing and warmth. Immediately after the crash, Chuck does not meet these needs. However, as time goes by Chuck meets this stage by finding a coconut with water inside which he takes. The need for shelter makes Chuck use rafts that he had drifted onto trees to protect him from the rain and the scorching sun. The other physiological need that Chuck lacks is food. This makes him make a spear that he uses for fishing to satisfy his hunger.

The second hierarchy in Maslows hierarchy of needs is safety that includes security, stability and freedom from fear. (Maslow) In the movie, Chuck does not meet this need when he stabs himself with a stick and bleeds creating a risk of infection. Moreover, in the middle of the movie, Chuck attempts to go to the middle of the sea with his raft an act that leaves the raft impaled and hence cannot use it as shelter anymore.

The third in the hierarchy is belonging or love that entails having a family, friends or spouse or lover. At the beginning of the movie, Chuck displays a lack of companionship by being alone on the island with nobody to talk to. However at the middle of the movie, there is a sense of companionship when Chuck becomes best friends with a friend called Wilson and he even cries when the ball accidentally gets lost showing a sense of belonging even though not to a natural person. Chucks wife, Kelly had given him a watch with her photo on the inside that he keeps looking showing the absence of companionship.

The fourth need in the hierarchy according to Maslow is self-esteem. This entails achievement, mastery respect and recognition. (A. Maslow) Chuck fails to achieve this level when his esteem drops after being stranded on the island for over five years. Chuck was a high ranking official in FedEx and believed he had control over a lot of things. In the end, he tells is co-workers after getting out of the island that he had power over nothing an aspect of reduced self-esteem. Chuck also finds his wife married to another person though mad; he decides to let her be.

The fifth and final level in Maslows hierarchy is self-actualization (A. Maslow, A Theory of Human Motivation). Self-actualization entails the pursuant of inner talent, creativity and fulfillment. Chuck achieves this level by first and foremost getting back to the real world. He realizes that he had taken everything for granted and begins to realize the importance of everything he had taken for granted. Chuck ultimately achieves this level when his previous empty life on the island is partly fulfilled when he now comes back to the real world. Chuck now finds the real meaning of life after a series of trauma for five years in the desert.

Works Cited

H., Maslow. Hierachy of needs. new york: Oxford Press, 2000. document.

Maslow, Abraham H. A theory of Human Motivation. chicago: new york publishers, 1999. document.

Hierachy of needs. new york: Oxford Press, 2000. book.

Maslow, Abraham. Hierachy of needs. new york: Oxford Press, 2000. document.