Henryk calls Adam a realist, adding that "if the world were only made of realists the world would never change." Do you agree with him? Why or why not?

Henryk calls Adam a realist, adding that "if the world were only made of realists the world would never change." Do you agree with him? Why or why not?

I am an optimist overall, but see that my optimism can be easily shaken in our world at times. Yes, I believe that Henryk is correct in that optimists change the world because they see what can be, whereas realists accepts it for what it is.

Well if Henryk's "optimism"changed the world for the better, I fail to see how.

I do not agree with Henryk's statement. I think it was the optimism of the Jewish residents of the ghetto that caused them to remain there rather than escape when they still had a chance to leave. It was misplaced optimism that led to their doom. Looking back in hindsight, Adam realizes if Kasia had not died, they would have left Warsaw before the ghetto was sealed off. He describes her as a sophisticated thinker who would have been able to "see the writing on the wall" about their futures if they did not leave Warsaw.

I disagree. I think realists look at facts and reality and see what needs to be accomplished, make plans, and move forward. Realists are usually optimistic because they have accurate information and don’t “bite off more than they can chew” and can see limitations and possibilities. If optimism isn’t combined the reality, disappointment will result.

The world is changed by dreamers who see things as they really are and think of ways to make it better. Isn't that optimism?

The world needs a healthy balance of realists and dreamers. The realists analyze and assess the feasibility of the ideas of the dreamers. Name any innovator, inventor, explorer, adventurer . . . they were/are all dreamers. President John Kennedy was committed to space exploration. He was a dreamer. Sadly, he didn't live to see Neil Armstrong walk on the moon. Without the dreamers who believed it was possible, working in conjunction with the realists who figured out how to get Armstong on the moon's surface, it would not have happened. That's just one example.

I do think that Henryk is right, at least to some extent.

I guess it would depend on your definition of realist and optimist. Every reader would answer this statement based on their definition. I tend to agree with JH Siess. but then again that was a different time, a positive time. Adam was living in the middle of a war, it was hard to be an optimist when the people around you are starving to death. Adam was a realist, but he had hope, he continued to hope the Americans would soon arrive, that the war would be over. It struck me that the real dreamers and optimists in the novel were the children, the risk takers, getting married, wanting to have children, a future.

I try to be a realist, but also feel that I try to see the bright side of what is real! Optimism = hope to me, and without that hope, I think that even more Jews would have lost their lives.