The Freedom Writers Diary: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them

"I really don’t know how I made it through the rest of the school day; hell, I don’t even know how I made it to my next class. I couldn’t see straight, couldn’t walk straight. All I know is that after the fight today, the shit’s really gonna hit the fan on the streets of Long Beach” 

This student was not originally part of the fight he references, but he was pulled into it when someone swung at him, and he felt like he had to swing back. He believes he can’t avoid the fight, because he is Mexican, and Mexicans were involved. Like many of Ms. Gruwell’s students, he finds it difficult to focus on school when his day is filled with violence. 

“It’s so damn easy to get a gun; it’s like getting bubble gum from the corner liquor store. All you need is $25” 

Weapons are a regular part of the students’ lives. Even students who are not in gangs feel that they need weapons to protect themselves from racial violence. The consequences of getting caught with a gun seem minor in the face of the very real threats of assault. 

 “Life is easily given up to protect and respect the homies and the barrio we claim…the same barrio that we were born in, raised in, and hopefully, will be buried in. After we put los tres puntos on your wrist, it becomes survival of the fittest, kill or be killed. No wonder they call it mi vida loca. It’s true, it is a crazy-ass life. Once you’re in, there’s no getting out” 

This quote exemplifies the “protect your own” attitude that the students have about people who are like them. For this Latin gang member, it’s worth it to get beat up or even killed, if it means he successfully defends his fellow gang members and their territory.  

“In the fifth grade, I had a teacher who always called me lazy in front of the whole class. She would always pick on me to read in front of the class. She knew I didn’t know how to read or spell very well and when I did read, I had to do it very slow. Everyone would laugh at me and call me stupid. I hated school” 

For this dyslexic student, Ms. Gruwell is the first teacher who doesn’t make him feel stupid. Instead, Ms. Gruwell encourages him to pursue athletics, something at which he excels, and he begins to enjoy school for the first time. The quote also ties in to a larger, often implicit, theme in the book: an individual taking heroic action in the face of critique of a broken system. 

“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that if you tell kids they’re stupid—directly or indirectly—sooner or later they start to believe it” 

This quote is from Ms. Gruwell, and it represents one of the few direct critiques in the book of the educational system. Here, Ms. Gruwell is frustrated that her class has been labeled “basic,” the newest evolution of terms like “remedial” that are used to group low-achieving students together in schools. 

“There was crystal everywhere and the bathrooms even and real towels. There was no paper wads on the ceiling or ashes on the floor, and there was no stall doors missing like the bathrooms at school” 

This quote is from the class’s first field trip. After a visit to the Museum of Tolerance, the students hear from a panel of speakers about diversity and eat dinner at the Century City Marriott. The student is amazed by how nice the hotel in comparison to his regular surroundings. This passage illuminates the class differences between the students, their teacher, and their benefactors.  

 “Here’s this gazilionaire treating me as if I’m belle of the ball, when my own dad is treating me like I don’t exist” 

In this quote about the students’ first field trip, this student refers to her conversation with John Tu, the class’s wealthy benefactor. This quote points to the Freedom Writers’ often-difficult home lives, where parents are often absent, neglectful, or abusive. This student feels like she has been treated like a princess during the field trip, and she envies John Tu’s kids for having a dad who cares about them.  

“Hot shot? If only she knew how nervous and overwhelmed I really was as a first-year teacher. She never even took the time to get to know me—and yet she was labeling me. Just like the students I defended, I was being stereotyped. Teachers called me a prima donna because I wore suits; I made the other teachers ‘look bad’ because I took my students on field trips; and some had the audacity to say that John Tu was my ‘sugar daddy’” 

Writing just before starting her second year of teaching, Ms. Gruwell is frustrated with criticisms from her fellow teachers. The quote reminds us how different she is from the other teachers, because of her appearance, teaching methods, and wealthy benefactor. She eventually realizes that she is being hypocritical by assuming “all” teachers feel the same as the few who are speaking out against her, but this passage also underscores how different she is from the other teachers. 

“As soon as I started to become hopeful, I realized it was only a book, nothing more. Today at two o’clock my brother was without a dream team or a guardian angel on the jury. He was sentenced to serve fifteen years to life in prison” 

Ms. Gruwell’s students begin to respond positively to school as they read books that are similar to their lives. After reading Twelve Angry Men, this student feels momentarily hopeful, but soon realizes that his life is different from the novel. This quote represents a midway point in the students’ attitudes toward their lives. They are inspired by the books they read, but they still feel powerless to change their own situations. 

“I walked into this open-minded, but it just wasn’t the right program for me. All of my teachers have their noses in the air, as if they were above the rest of the school. Looking around, I realized I was uncomfortable” 

This student transferred into Ms. Gruwell’s class for sophomore year. Previously, she had been in the “Distinguished Scholars,” an English course for high-achieving students. This quote points to the social hierarchy of the school, and the way that hierarchy is changing as Ms. Gruwell disrupts the school’s normal practices. 

“It’s hard for me, because I have a lot of people who always tell me that I am smart, and that I seem to have it all together, and they sometimes wish they were like me. If they only knew that on the inside I am just barely keeping it together.”

As Ms. Gruwell’s students embark on a “toast for change,” some students struggle with secret addictions. This quote demonstrates how the books the students are reading force them to analyze their own behavior. This student feels that people around her do not see the real her, an alcoholic who gets secretly drunk every day. As she reads more books about change, she begins to feel like a hypocrite.

“Now that I’ve read your book, I am educated on what is happening in Bosnia. I would like the opportunity now to educate people on what is happening in my ‘America’ because until this ‘undeclared war’ has ended, I am not free!” 

This quote is from a letter to Zlata from Tommy Jefferson. Tommy writes about how much he identified with Zlata’s experience and finds it similar to what’s going on in his own neighborhood. It also points to a newly sparked impulse toward activism in the students, who had the idea to invite Zlata to speak and are working to make it happen.  

“I was probably more proud of being a ‘label’ than of being a human being, that’s the way most of us were taught” 

When Zlata comes to speak to the students, she emphasizes that she identifies not any particular ethnicity, but “a human being.” The speech causes this student to reconsider her own use of labels. She had always been taught to be proud of being Latina, but now she believes that it is more important to fight against labels and remember that all people are humans.  

“Having her say that made me realize more than ever how special my classmates are. Like she said, we are the heroes and it is up to us to let the younger generation know what’s going on. It sure feels good to know that for once in my life my friends and I are doing the right thing” 

When Miep Gies visits the class, one of the students asks if she considers herself a hero, and she replies that the students are heroes. This quote marks a moment of shift in the way the students think of themselves. They’ve already begun to take more initiative and action in their lives, but now they are recognizing it and have begun to identify as people who do “the right thing.” 

“I think it’s about time men start respecting women, instead of degrading women to the point where it’s unbearable. I don’t know why women allow men to brainwash them and use their bodies as objects instead of cherishing them as if they were treasures. But it’s never going to change until women start respecting themselves more” 

This quote points to an underlying theme in the book, which is an emphasis on individual rather than systemic solutions to problems. Ms. Gruwell teaches the students about misogyny and has them read The Color Purple. This student relates to the book’s stories of domestic violence, but she also blames the individual women for the men’s actions, not a larger system. 

 “It has only been nine months since he died, and now my teacher wants me to open the floodgates and lose control of my emotions by writing a book? I just can’t do that. I don’t want to remember! Silence is my way of staying strong, for my brother and for me” 

This quote describes the fear many students have to face before they can speak out about their lives. When Ms. Gruwell asks the students to turn their diaries into a book, many of them are initially reluctant. They are worried that speaking about their problems will make them worse. In their silence, they feel alone and worry about what others will think of them. 

“How was I so lucky to get a story about abortion? It was my secret come to haunt me once again. It was as if my subconscious was speaking to me about everything that I kept penned up inside of me” 

Once the students start to edit and read each other’s diary entries, their initial reluctance turns to excitement. Through their reading, they discover that they are not alone in their experiences. Earlier, they connected with the characters in the books that they read earlier in class; now, they are now connecting with each other. 

 “With the covering of the swastikas, and everything that happened today, I now know that there is not a day that will go by, when if I believe something is wrong, I won’t do anything about it. It is better to take a chance and make a change, than it is to pass and pity” 

This quote points to the students’ newfound sense of empowerment. When the students visit Washington, D.C. to present their book to U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley, they see a swastika spray painted on the streets as they are on their way to visit the Holocaust museum. They make a Freedom Writers logo and cover the swastikas up. Earlier in the book, they did not feel like they could change anything; now, they vow to always act. 

 “We realized pretty quickly that they were not after our story…It’s Ironic that while the Freedom Writers were taking a symbolic stand against violence in our candlelight vigil at the Washington Monument, a murder was being carried out” 

This quote points to the students conflicted relationship with the media. When the Freedom Writers return from Washington, D.C., they find TV cameras at their school. They think perhaps the media is there to cover their trip, but instead, they have come to report on a student who raped and murdered a young girl. While the students are glad for media attention that amplifies their classroom work, they are frustrated when the media seems to choose to focus on the negative. 

“Unlike my biological family, the Freedom Writers understand me and have been there for a long time” 

Throughout the book, many students refer to the Freedom Writers and Ms. Gruwell as “family.” For many students, their classroom is a safer and more stable place than their homes with their biological families. 

“The power of the media to reach people in every corner of the world is amazing”

This quote points again to the conflicted relationship the students have with the media. After the Freedom Writers are profiled in the Los Angeles Times, this student receives a letter from a prisoner who was jailed because he refused to “rat out his homeboys.” This student relates to the man’s story personally, as her father is in prison for the same reason. She is glad that the man reached out to her, which wouldn’t have been possible without the media attention their class has received.

“Being a Freedom Writer, I couldn’t understand how I just stood by and let all of this go on” 

This quote points to the students changing identities. At the beginning of the book, they mainly identified with their race. Now, they identify as Freedom Writers. This writer is a member of a sorority that just initiated their freshman members, and she is upset with herself for not taking a stand against the degrading things they made the new initiates do, because she doesn’t think it is the kind of thing a Freedom Writer would let happen. 

“I don’t want to report him just to get revenge. I just want to stop this injustice once and for all” 

This quote points to a change in behavior from the beginning to the end of the book. When this Freedom Writer wins an award from the American Jewish Committee for fighting societal injustice, she is motivated her to speak up and tell her mother than she was raped. She learns that the same person molested her cousin and decides to report her attacker.