Climbing The Blood Of Flowers By Anita Amirrezvani

Climbing the Ladder to Autonomous Joy Abraham Maslow developed a hierarchy of needs in his paper “A Theory of Human Motivation” released in 1943. This hierarchy, usually represented by a pyramid, begins with the simple needs of survival at the first step, and progresses towards the final step of an individual reaching their full potential. This model was created to explain the inner workings of successful individuals and find what makes them exemplary. Seventy plus years later, the hierarchy is still referred to as a stairway a man or woman take to grow and develop to become their best version. The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani shows an unnamed protagonist going through a journey of the hierarchy of needs. The symbols used by the

Safety needs include: personal and financial security. To have safety needs fulfilled, money is required, as it directly correlated to quality of life. The first need the protagonist must have fulfilled is her safety needs, as her physical needs have already been achieved. This directly for her means money. As the protagonist grieves the loss of her father, she is forced to sell her house and move in with her uncle, Gostaham, and aunt, Gordiyeh. The protagonist is later offered a sigheh- a contracted marriage with an expiry date that has the opportunity to be renewed. A wealthy man, Fereydoon, offers the sigheh. This serves as a symbol to the protagonist. The significance of this symbol shows the character at an early stage in the novel struggling by living her life for others instead of herself. However, the sigheh is a risk. “It’s not enough, once my daughter’s virginity is gone, who will want her then? It’s far better for her to marry a man for life.” (117) The risk leaves the protagonist and her mother weary to accept the contract as it means she may not be able to get a permanent marriage afterwards. A paper by Elaine Sciolini of the New York Times has a quote from an unnamed man. ''I am 23 years old. If I temporarily marry a young woman for three years and then divorce her, would anyone be willing to marry her? It would be impossible that any man would want to have a family

This is an accurate representation of self-actualization. Self-actualization is also the highest need in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. At the end of the novel, the protagonist achieves this. In the novel, ambition is symbolized by Gostaham’s pen. This pen is used by Gostaham to draw all design for his carpet factory. As her uncle is a very talented carpet designer, this pen has been the main fuel to drive many beautiful and intricate designs. To the protagonist, is symbolizes her full potential. However, the pen is forbidden for anyone other than Gostaham to touch. The ambitions of the protagonist serve a risk in using the pen. This does not stop the young protagonist from tapping into her full potential. “Even though I knew I shouldn’t, I picked up Gostaham’s pen and paper and began to draw.”(75) The result of her using the pen to draw is her most beautiful carpet design to date. Although Gostaham does get angry with her for using his pen and says “Let me make it clearer than daylight that you must never, ever touch my pen again.” (76), he also praises her. “Good work on the sketches,” (75). If she had never taken a risk and used Gostaham’s pen to draw, her design would have never been produced, and her full potential would not have been reached. In comparison with the torn carpet, the decision to use Gostaham’s pen was a risk made independently by the