Embracing Change A quote by George Bernard Shaw, a famous Irish playwright, reads “Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything”. Change, to make someone or something different, is vital for progress, but is often followed by fear. The famous short story “The Giraffe” by Mauro Senesi, and movie Chocolat (2000) by Lasse Hallestrom both demonstrate how different societies deal with change. Change is feared in both pieces of literature due to the different ideologies of each society, yet children prove to be an exception and embrace change quickly in both works. In the short story “The Giraffe”, the society fears change because they believe that change will expose them, leading to shame. …show more content…
The new chocolate shop opened by Vianne Rocher represents change because it is bright and colourful, the opposite of the gloomy town. As there are a few people who quickly adapt to the change and visit her shop, there are others like Caroline who fear it because they believe it will lead to challenges that they do not want to face. When Caroline sees her mother Armande at the chocolate shop, she is outraged. She says to Vianne “She has diabetes! Why don’t you just give her rat poison? It would kill her faster” (Chocolat). Armande is willing to embrace change since she feels that the opportunities change presents outweigh the cost of her possible death, but Caroline fears for her. The fear of facing the challenge of keeping her mother alive is what holds Caroline back from accepting change like her mother. Despite the differences, both pieces of literature share similarities as well. In both works children are willing to embrace change more quickly than adults. In “The Giraffe”, the group of boys accept the giraffe immediately, whereas the adults fear and avoid it. Even the girls are described “homely in comparison…you could tell by their eyes how much they would have liked to come with us”(Senesi, 101). The giraffe, which represents change, is accepted by children immediately without any hesitation, unlike the adults who avoid