Reflection on Who Moved My Cheese

When given an option that leads toward change, many often choose the one that does not lead to change, they don’t want to break their traditional life pattern. This is especially evident in the short stories “The Giraffe” by Mauro Senesi and “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson. While reading these stories it became clear that these choices stem from the fear of consequences that comes with change as well as the disruption in authority for the community.

The Changeable nature of life affects us all somehow. Whether it be moving to a new city, having children, or losing people that we love, it can affect people in many different ways. For example, in the novel, the main character

After reading The Glass Castle, I felt I could relate to the Walls family in some ways. Although there is no question her childhood was much worse than mine; I have been through my fair share of challenges. Overcoming various struggles throughout my childhood made me the person I am today. Like Jeannette, our fathers are similar to a certain caliber. Like Rex, my father used to drink frequently. Of course I never knew that because I was just an oblivious child. Even though he drank I never suspected it, for he was always very nice to me and took care of me before himself. I could never distinguish his personality from drunk to sober; he behaved the same. Another parallel between Rex and my dad, Jeff, both men never made the wisest choices. He married five women and has one or more children with three of them. Even though my dad made poor choices, he is undeniably a great guy. Just like in The Glass Castle, alcoholism, and specific family dynamics have affected my family and me in multiple ways.

Ever had a choice that leads to change? When given this option many often choose the option that does not lead to change, they don’t want to break their traditional life pattern. This is especially evident in the short stories “The Giraffe” by Mauro Senesi and “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson. While reading these stories it became clear that this fear stems from the consequences that comes with change as well as the disruption in authority for a person, or in these stories, a community.

People are heavily influenced by the pressures of different environments. These pressures often act as a driving force that causes people to change and adapt to their given situation. In “The Metaphor,” Charlotte meets Miss Hancock, her English teacher, in junior high school. At first, she loves Miss Hancock and greatly appreciates her class. However, in high school Charlotte has Miss Hancock once again, and Charlotte’s treatment towards her changes significantly. Budge Wilson’s short story suggests that the pressures of social environments can lead to a change in one’s behaviour.

Throughout history, people have sacrificed their time, resources, and even lives, to cope with changes and continuities, because of their affect on things and people about which they care. If a change is unfavorable to the individual, they attempt to preserve the continuity that is being changed. If a continuity is unfavorable, they try to change it. In Wild Swans by Jung Chang and Assignment Rescue by Varian Fry, examples of individuals preserving continuities are shown. In Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse, the opposite is portrayed. The individual, Siddhartha, learns to accept change and embrace it, rather than fight to keep continuities. In either case, individuals may use a plethora of methods to cope with changes and/or continuities in their societies and cultures.

“The Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka and the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life” by Francis Copler don’t seem to have a lot in common at first glance. One is an old novella taught in literature classes, and the other is a Christmas movie, but if you look closer you can see they share common themes of unhappiness, transformation, and dependence on family support. In both “The Metamorphosis” and “It’s a Wonderful Life” the main characters are unhappy in their lives, and go through a transformation where they see what their lives are like without them. We will examine the characters, the journeys they went through, and the different outcomes of similar experiences.

Life will always throw challenging situations at you in the midst of what seems like a dream. In these trying times, you cannot succumb to the pain or sadness that it brings, you must pick yourself up and become the person that you have always been deep down inside. Without these events, we would be the static characters within a coming-of-age novel; the characters nobody remembers after a few chapters.

Change is inevitable, it is part of life. However, change is a complex process and the reason individuals change may vary from person to person. Change most often comes from experiencing a traumatic event, such as the death of a loved one, a major failure, a life crisis, a relationship ending, being fired from a job, life threatening illness, etc. Change may also come from stories we read, hear or see, which may include family legends, myths, fairy tales, novels, movies, television programs, etc. (Kottler, 2013). In “Young Goodman Brown,” by Nathanial Hawthorn the protagonist, Goodman Brown, takes a walk through the forest, which turns out to be a dramatically life changing event. Throughout the story, Goodman Brown

B. Brief summary: Thomas wakes up in an ascending elevator surrounded by cold and darkness with no memory of his past. When the doors open a group of boys pulled him up to the Glade, a field surrounded by four enormous walls that open and closes. Outside the wall is the Maze with Grievers. Those are creatures of metal, designed by organization called Wicked. The boys, who are living in the Glade, have also no memories like Thomas.

As I grew into my teenage years, my mother’s grilled cheese was always there for me. It brought a sense of security and stability to my life. I knew deep inside that I was my mother’s little girl from the love that went into

"Who Moved My Cheese?" tells a story of change, of how we react to it, and the trouble we can find ourselves in when we don't follow that change. The story is about four characters, two mice, and two "little people." The characters live in a maze chasing cheese. The cheese represents anything we chase after in life and believe it will make us happy. The story details the trials and troubles we all have in daily lives.

Who Moved My Cheese by Spencer Johnson, tells the story of how our surrounding environment changes, how we need deal with these changes instead of adapting to it, and how to succeed in life. In this story there are four characters: two mice, Sniff and Scurry and two litter people Haw and Hem, all of them looking for cheese in the maze to survive. Every day, they put their jogging suit and their running shoes to find their favorite cheese. The two mice use the try error method, they went to one corridor at the time and if they do not find cheese, they moved to another corrector. However, the two litter people were behaving more as human. They used their logical thinking to find their cheese.

The cycle isn’t new, and it’s not glamorous. It was a pattern of me saying something “irrational” or “being crazy” and he would explode at me, raging hours, reducing me to blubbering apologies and desperate pleas for a second chance.

When changes happen in your life, you can choose to be like Sniff and Scurry, like Hem, or like Haw. Sniff and Scurry kept things simple. They didn’t overanalyze or overcomplicate things. They simply moved on. Hem, he didn’t move on. He stayed in misery and didn’t realize that he needed to change with the change -- move with the cheese. Lastly, theres Haw. He had to learn from his mistakes and laugh at his previously self and move with the cheese. I hope that we can all not make the mistake that Hem and Haw made and learn to deal with change by going with the flow and moving with the cheese!