The book Who Moved My Cheese by Spencer Johnson is a metaphorical story about changes and people’s readiness to experience them. Changes constantly happen because the world is flexible, and the story reminds the readers about that. The cheese is a metaphorical representation of what people have in life or what they want to achieve, and people have their own cheese as they have their own desires in life. Cheese lies in different bases that are located in different parts of the maze (Johnson, 2017). The maze itself, as well as the cheese, is a metaphor that signifies life with its corridors, changes, and even dead ends.
The book has four characters who are two mice, Sniff and Scurry, and two people, Hem and Haw. All of them have different ways of looking for their cheese. Thus, mice look for it every time they are out of it. They try, make mistakes, and are guided by their instincts, while people are driven by their minds (Johnson, 2017). It is harder for people to find their cheese as mice do because they have fears and dreams, and that is why when they find their cheese, they think that it will last forever. However, when Hem and Haw ran out of cheese, they had to adjust to the new situation. After some thinking and overcoming his uncertainty Haw realizes that he has to change his actions and find new cheese while Hem denies the change and prefers to stay where he is.
When speaking about the characters of the story and associating myself with them, I prefer to think that I am more like Haw. The thing here is that I understand that it is quite difficult to leave the comfort zone and change one’s behavioral patterns because the person is used to them. However, at the same time, I realize that changes are inevitable, and they happen despite our desires and anticipations. That is why I value my comfort zone and stick to certain patterns in my life, but do not deny changes and even support them when I understand that it is impossible to avoid them. In addition, changes do not always mean that something bad is going to happen. All in all, I still think that in the majority of cases, changes lead to improvement and better life.
The book Who Moved My Cheese by Spencer Johnson was written to show the readers that life is flexible and changes in it are inevitable. They happen despite people’s desires or readiness for them. At the same time, changes are necessary because development is impossible without actions. Apart from that, the story helps the reader change the attitude towards changes in life and in the world. After reading the book, one starts to assess them as the possibilities for improvement and reaching happiness or this metaphorical cheese Spencer Johnson writes about. The author also shows Hem and Haw’s mistakes of not assessing the small changes that led to the loss of their cheese. This episode shows the readers the importance of day-to-day thinking about the possibility of a change. In conclusion, the message of the book may be formulated this way: life is flexible, and changes are inevitable, but people should not be afraid of them as they lead to improvement and happiness.
Reference
Johnson, S. (2015). Who moved my cheese. Ebury Publishing.