Analysis of Protagonists in Ten Short Stories by Sadegh Hedayat Based on Maslow's Theory

The realistic short stories of Sadegh Hedayat can be analyzed from different views. Since these stories can be adjusted to the psychoanalytic foundations of Freud and Jung’s theories, their analysis from such perspective has been of more interest to researchers. These stories could also be studied in the field of humanistic psychology, specially based on Abraham Maslow's theories. Relying on this approach, this study investigates the protagonists in ten stories by Sadegh Hedayat. The results show that, since the environment in the late Qajar and early Pahlavi eras did not qualify for the development of people’s potentialities, heroes of these stories were often introverted, isolated, neurotic and losing characters.