What Is the Summary of “Who Moved My Cheese”?
“Who Moved My Cheese” is the allegorical tale of two industrious mice named Sniff and Scurry and two overly cautious “littlepeople” named Hem and Haw who live together in a maze. When the four friends lose the cheese supply they depended on for sustenance and security, the mice move on in pursuit of new fortune while Hem and Haw remain stuck in their old ways.
“Who Moved My Cheese” is an artistic fable created by author Spencer Johnson to illustrate the fact that change is not always a bad thing. While Sniff and Scurry have long anticipated and prepared for the cheese to disappear eventually, Hem and Haw are at a loss for what to do after having arranged their lives around the cheese. Still in denial, they blame outside sources for the loss rather than accepting that the cheese was not meant to last forever. Meanwhile, the industrious mice have long since moved on to find more cheese further down the maze.
As the story progresses, Haw comes to accept the loss of the cheese and moves on, leaving Hem behind to obsess over what is long gone. Haw leaves words of encouragement along the way in hopes that Haw will step out of his comfort zone and pursue a new future. Hem is eventually successful at finding a source of cheese even more abundant than the first. The story ends with his hope that Haw may eventually find him.
