The Freedom Writers Diary by Erin Gruwell Book Review

Erin Gruwell and the Freedom Writers’ 1999 novel, “The Freedom Writers Diary” showcases the substantial narrative of a young, dedicated English teacher and her journey through enlightening students of inadequate education within the gang-filled Wilson High School. Throughout the course, Mrs. Gruwell gradually educates her students in regards of ethnic violence and the repercussions with the influence of literature. ‘The Freedom Writers Diary’ expresses the existence of racial injustice within the society and the forbidding consequences bound to transpire, through the lens of Critical Race Theory.

This true to reality novel addresses notable matters towards racial biases within the city of Long Beach, California. It is portrayed as the “gangsta-rap capital” where violence is essentially perceived as a conventional part of one’s day. Wilson was always an exceptional institution for students to select, in fact, it was located in one of the safest neighborhoods in the city, until the latest racial integration program was introduced in which all students' of ethnic groups were welcome. Though it seemed harmless, recent outbreaks of “race wars” significantly influenced the pupils in which it dramatically reflected within classrooms and throughout the campus. A particular narrator states, “we are killing each other over race, pride and respect” (Gruwell and Freedom Writers, pg. 10).  To these individuals, the sole intention of murdering other human beings is ultimately one’s skin tone. These homicides no longer regard people as living organisms, but rather more as just simple numbers and statistics of the “undeclared” war.

Though families are essentials of one’s life as they help individuals develop and become the person they are, some are viewed as the complete eradication of others. To many of the students, the minute they are born, they are immediately taught that the “barrio”, otherwise their neighborhood, is the uttermost valuable possession one can ask for. “Life is easily given up to protect and respect the homies and the barrio we claim” (pg. 17) furthermore emphasizes the commitment towards these “families”. In fact, during the events of entry 3, one student, particularly Latino, is demanded that she is to be dishonest about a certain gas station incident upon their court trial, where a student of a contrasting race is murdered due to the fact that the individual was Asian. Eventually, she agrees to do so, thus illustrating how significant these families are and how willing members are to safeguard them although they were completely in the wrong.

Within the classroom, many students possess little faith in Mrs. Gruwell ever continuing her career at Wilson as with several other educators due to these “high risk” pupils. With the students, the everlasting days are depicted as the “continuation of a nightmare” (pg. 12). Many lack the sufficient amount of care and hope from loved ones and educators towards them which conclusively causes gangs as the only possibility of comfort and belonging.  Though Mrs. Gruwell does recognize that teaching these lost juveniles may be gruesome, she decides to continue as, “Even though people have given up on them. I refuse to believe they’re a lost cause” (pg. 31). By doing so, Erin determines that selecting novels similar to the lives of the students will hopefully recognize how meaningless the conflicts are towards one another strictly due to their ethnicity.

“The Diary of Anne Frank” and “Zlata’s Diary” were one of the few notable novels that genuinely resonated with all the students. With similar ages, many students were able to connect to both novels as the two centered around an individual's life plagued with violence. The central theme within these novels is ultimately the consequences of racial injustice and prejudice within the society such as where populations are mass murdered and forced to seek refuge due to the fact that they are of a distinct ethnic group. By doing so, it allows the students to recognize how susceptible they are to violence. It seemed as though many were inclined towards ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’ as they were inspired with the efforts and commitment of Miep Gies, an Austrian woman, towards assisting the Franks. So much so that the students developed a fundraiser in order for Miep to share her story with the students of Wilson in hopes of developing the very same compassion and selflessness with regards to humanity. With the intentions of selecting these principal works, Mrs. Gruwell unveils how “life mirrors art” and through the power of literature, change can arise.

Along with the momentous narratives, Mrs. Gruwell also shepherds the peers with a variety of locations in hopes of enlightening and inspiring the students to become a “catalyst” for change. One particular place the class visits the Museum of Tolerance to view the 1995 film “Higher Learning'' where the group is introduced to Mas Okui, a Japanese-American man dispatched to the Manzanar concentration camps along with his significant others. “I was ten years old. How could I be an enemy?” (pg. 41) substantially highlights how vulnerable humankind is towards violence and the inordinate amounts of hypocrisy and prejudice present within the civilization that often resents the imagery of world tranquility:

World peace is only a dream because people won’t allow themselves and others around them. We won’t allow the color of a man’s heart to be the color of his skin, the premise of his beliefs, and his self-worth (pg. 39)

Oftentimes, these students were satisfied with being captioned as ‘labels’ rather than a human being. Such as in “Zlata’s Diary”, every individual had unique labels that distinguished their ethnic group, “M '' for Musilms and “J” for the Jewish etc. Like the prisoners, humanity also possessed their own unique identity through the color of one’s skin. With the labels and the disruptive propaganda of the divergent nationalities, grim events such as war and the Holocaust are soon to result once more.

“The Freedom Writers Diary” fabricated by Erin Gruwell and the Freedom Writers’ accounts the everlasting presence of systemic racism and prejudice within all of mankind. To many of the students of Wilson High School, “hope” is not something they are aware of. Many were given up on from the start resulting in them to perceive gangs as their only hope. With the superb assistance and comfort Mrs. Gruwell provided, each one of these “high risk” and “incompetent” adolescents fortunalety succumbed to the potent lifestyle of gangs and prospered into “scholars with a conscience” (pg. 79). Eventually, Gruwell and the students of room 203 adopted the name “Freedom Writers'' in relation to the African-American civil rights activists, “The Freedom Riders”, where the objective was to revolutionize segregated interstate travel during 1961. Today, Erin Gruwell and millionaire John Tu founded the non-profit organization, “The Freedom Writers Foundation”, to motivate unprivileged students around the world to “pick up a pen and be a catalyst for change” (pg. 277).