Who Is Mrs. Gruwell's Experiences In Freedom Writers

Many people use writing as a tool to freely express their true beliefs and deepest thoughts. When a person speaks, it is usually necessary for him or her to respond immediately; however, a person writing has an ample amount of time to speculate what he or she wants to say. For this reason, people use diaries to secure their deepest thoughts. Irving Finkel, a collector who has more than 900 personal diaries, discusses the purpose of a diary with BBC news: “In some cases, it’s definitely purgative. Many people use it to assuage guilt and get something of their chest…” (Geoghegan). This is the reason why Mrs. Gruwell implements the journals in her classroom. In the 2007 film Freedom Writers, the personal journals and the actions of Mrs. Gruwell

The students were at each other’s throats because of racial tension, but with the release of emotions through writing and learning, the students yearned to learn. One day when Mrs. Gruwell intercepts a note with a racist drawing of an African American on it, she decides to teach them about a time when people were slaughtered for the reason of being different—the Holocaust. Mrs. Gruwell asks Holocaust survivors to come in and tell the students of room 203 what the Holocaust was like. The students identify with the Holocaust survivors because they had been targeted because they were different too. Mrs. Gruwell takes the initiative the next year to have the students read The Diary of Anne Frank. After every night of reading, Eva, a Latino, asks why bad things keep happening to Anne Frank. The whole class became engrossed with the story because they could relate it to their own lives; but they agree Anne Frank had it worse. This story strengthened the class’s bond, and the students began to develop an understanding on how other people view life—their perspective. Once the students became respected friends, they could finally move towards a common