It is a well-accepted fact that the knowledge of psychological theories complements the understanding of Literature. Many psychological theories have been evolved to explain the erratic human behaviour. This paper shall explore the possible reasons for the psychic disintegration of the literary character Maya in Anita Desai’s Cry, the Peacock as per the theoretical framework of Abraham H Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. The deprivation of the need for Sleep is included in the category of the physiological needs in the first level of the Need Hierarchy. Apart from the other needs as mentioned in the Need , the character Maya faces an acute deprivation of the need of Sleep and this paper shall focus on the adverse effect over her psyche. The Psychoanalytic theory of Freud is an extensively used theory to lay bare the psyche of the literary characters nevertheless, the Maslovian tenets facilitate one not only to probe the consciousness of literary characters, to study their psychic conflicts, to examine their potentiality for full humanness but also complements the other psychological studies of the literary characters. There could be various reasons for the neurotic behaviour of the above mentioned character, who being unable to cope with the stress generated due to psychic turmoil in her life commits suicide. On keen observation, the major reasons of the degenerating psychic health and unusual behaviour of Maya, in a way could be assigned to the non-gratification of certain needs which are crucial for maintaining psychological and emotional equilibrium.