Riley Andersen's Five Emotions By Margaret Atwood

Famous Canadian author and activist, Margaret Atwood, states, “You may not be able to alter reality, but you can alter your attitude towards it, and this, paradoxically, alters reality. Try it and see”. It is a universal truth that every one of us will be faced with a multitude of different opportunities and challenges in our lives. If you have a poor attitude about a situation you find yourself in, the quality of that experience is always going to be diminished. However, we have the power to take total control over our negative preconceptions, not dictating the circumstance, but how we approach it.

Riley Andersen is your typical eleven-year-old human female. She participates in organized sports, has many friends, and has become comfortable

After viewing Walt Disney Pictures’ 82nd animated feature film, I began to infer that each of Riley’s five Emotions has an individual outlook on every situation that is directly dictated by their individual character. In one scene of the film, the characters were presented with an unusual image: an otherwise average pizza adorned with broccoli crowns. Though the situation was kept constant, as if a scientific experiment was being conducted, they all perceived reality differently. Anger observed the steaming, cheese and broccoli-covered slice of dough and immediately flew into a fit of rage, as in his actuality, broccoli is never an appropriate topping for an otherwise delicious Neapolitan delicacy. Fear has never seen such a thing in his short, sheltered life and does not know what to do with it, other than this monstrosity is not something meant to be ingested by any moderately sane human being. Should Joy have been shown on the screen, it is guaranteed she would attempt to put a positive spin on the circumstances, since she observes reality as always being merry and bright, whereas another individual may not. All individuals are unique. No matter how strong our bonds are with each other or how similar we seem, no two people will ever have identical opinions or ideas about the world we live in, nor will they share the same feelings towards certain