How does Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs connect to the main character Jack/Toby in This Boy's Life? Give reasons and examples with quotes throughout the novel.

Maslow's hierarchy of needs is often depicted as a pyramid with five levels or layers. Each level or tier has specific human needs. The needs of the lower levels must be met before a person can begin focusing on the next level up. The bottom 2 levels are basic physiological needs and include things like food, water, shelter, and safety. Having these things will allow a person to move into the psychological needs sections of the pyramid that include self-esteem, love, friends, and so on.
Those levels are what I would focus on for relating Maslow's theory with the book. From the start, readers know that Jack and his mom are poor. It is why they are forced to move from place to place, and it is one reason why his mom is so eager to find a man that can help support them. She is hopeful, but it is clear that lack of finances prevent her from focusing on being in positive relationships.

The price was right, next to nothing, and she believed in its possibilities, a word used often by the man who showed it to her.

Jack is in the same situation since he is forced to deal with these abusive men that his mom brings home. Dwight is no exception. Because Jack is constantly being forced to concentrate on being physically safe, he can't focus on developing his emotional self and finding quality friends.


He pulled his hunting knife out from under the seat and held it to her throat. He kept her there for hours like that, making her beg for her life, making her promise she would never leave him.


It's not that Jack doesn't try either. It's why he joins the Boy Scouts; however, Dwight interferes with that as well. This prevents Jack from having any sense of safe space, and that locks him into the bottom tiers of Maslow's hierarchy.