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

While the students encounter personal difficulties, they look forward to being in Ms. Gruwell’s class. One student describes waking up in a home that is not his own, as his family was evicted over the summer. The student feels shame about his situation and dreads going to school. Once he gets to Ms. Gruwell’s English class, however, he feels better: “I walk in the room and I feel as though all the problems in my life are not important anymore. I am home” (54). Another student who is kept from school for several weeks because of his cystic fibrosis hopes that he will soon be able to return, “because school is one of the only things that I love doing” (54). Another student is excited to transfer to the class from the Distinguished Scholars.

While the students enjoy Ms. Gruwell’s class and relate to the stories they are reading, some students wonder how this makes a difference in real life. When they read Twelve Angry Men, a student describes how that very day, her own brother was sentenced to fifteen years to life in prison. He was hopeful, then “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” (56). Sometimes, the students face resistance from other teachers at the school. Ms. Gruwell takes students who pass a quiz to dinner at the Medieval Times restaurant while they are reading about King Arthur and Camelot, but two students are turned away by a chaperone for not wearing ties and slacks, even though they are following the school uniform. The students hope for a day when people will “stop judging books by their cover” (60).

The biggest moment of the term comes when Ms. Gruwell has a “toast for change.” She gives the students plastic champagne glasses full of apple cider and passes out their new books, including the Anne Frank and Zlata’s diaries. The students write of their own aspirations for personal change. “I was always known as the person that was going to be a druggie, or get pregnant before I turned fourteen and drop out. Now I have the chance to prove them wrong,” writes one student (62). Another student describes a change of heart she had when testifying before a grand jury. She knew that she was expected to lie to protect her friend Paco, who she witnessed shoot another boy. But when the judge asked, she told the truth.

Another student talks about how she feels guilty because she is seen as “together” but is a closet drinker. She writes, “It’s so hard for me to change because I fear that people will not like the sober me. I’ve been doing it for so long, it’s just a daily routine like getting up in the morning, going to the bathroom, and brushing your teeth” (67). Her drinking never bothered her before, but now that they are reading books about change, she feels like a hypocrite. The students relate to Anne and Zlata’s stories, feel less alone in their own difficult experiences, and begin to look for ways that they can affect change. 

At the end of the term, Ms. Gruwell has the students write letters to Zlata, and they have the idea to invite her to come visit the class. 

Before Ms. Gruwell’s entry, a letter to Zlata from student Tommy Jefferson is reproduced. In the letter, Tommy writes about how much he identifies with Zlata’s experience and finds it similar to what’s going on here. “Now that I’ve read your book, I am educated on what is happening in Bosnia,” he writes. “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!”

In her entry, Ms. Gruwell writes that her students “experienced an epiphany” after their “toast for change.” Tommy, a student who once hated reading, finishes all of the books in their “Read-a-thon for Tolerance” before they were due.

While Ms. Gruwell had not originally intended to send the students’ letters to Zlata, she now feels like Zlata must read them. Last term, the students even started collecting money in a jar in the classroom to help pay for Zlata’s travel. Over Christmas, Ms. Gruwell tries to track down Zlata’s address. Her contacts at the Museum of Tolerance think Zlata might be living in France and concentration camp survivor Renee Firestone thinks Ireland, so Ms. Gruwell sends a package to both countries. She asked local restaurants for gift certificates and got the hotel she works at on the weekends to offer two rooms if Zlata accepts the invitation.

While waiting for a reply from Zlata, Gerda Seifer, a Polish Holocaust survivor, calls to tell Ms. Gruwell that Miep Gies, the person responsible for finding Anne Frank’s diary, will be visiting California and was willing to add Ms. Gruwell’s class to her itinerary. To prepare for that visit, Ms. Gruwell asks Gerda to visit her class and share her own experience surviving the Holocaust. 

The students are moved by meting Gerda Seifer and Miep Gies. During Miep’s visit, one student asks if Miep considers herself a hero. She replies that she thinks they, the students, are the true heroes. It is the first time the students had ever considered this possibility, and they start to reflect on their unique position: “Having her say that made me realize more than ever how special my classmates are” (86).

The students receive the news that Zlata and her friend Mirna will be visiting them. They have dinner with the visitors at the Marriott and find Zlata very relatable, just a regular fifteen-year-old girl. After Zlata's lecture, an audience member asks what ethnicity she is, and Zlata simply responds, “I’m a human being” (93). This moment makes one student reconsider her own tendency to self-identify as Latina: “I was probably more proud of being a ‘label’ than of being a human being, that’s the way most of us were taught” (93).

The students have a full day with Zlata and Mirna. They tour the Museum of Tolerance again, have lunch in Beverly Hills, go to a private screening of Schindler’s List, and attend a reception with Holocaust survivors at the Marriott. The students are excited by these experiences and feel that meeting survivors helps them better understand the Holocaust. Later, they arrange a “Basketball for Bosnia” event to raise money for Bosnian children affected by the war.

Still, some students continue to struggle. One student writes that she has a secret cocaine habit: “We’re all about changing for the better and I am changing for the worse…When it comes down to it, I’m not ready to change” (99). Another student writes that her family is crumbling, as she recently found out her mom was cheating on her dad. She also recently learned that their English class, which she had started to consider a second family, might also be broken up, as Ms. Gruwell might not be allowed to teach them next year. “We are getting all the attention now, newspapers are writing articles about us,” writes one student. “They are trying to hold us down, split us up, and keep us from making a difference. It’s not going to work!” (105).