Leon 1

Freedom Writers–Eva’s Turning Points

The events that Eva faced in her life came to shape and eventually transform her morals and perspective
on the world around. The film began by establishing her reality as a small child. Eva had personally witnessed
the “false” arrest and conviction of her father, leaving her alone, angry, and vulnerable in a world dominated by
segregation. Her father had been her role model as the leader of the Latino community and would have her
come to accept his fate as a result of retaliation and for being so highly respected. Moreover, it was this trauma
and that of other police brutalities by white officers that made her ignorant and resentful towards said majority
which she felt held and expected absolute authority. It was also this context that would set the racist tone
throughout the film and explain Eva's initial disrespect towards Mrs. Gruwell.

Assuming that school was a waste of time, Eva had other obligations and priorities within her own gang.
Upon one night, she and her friend Paco had been scheming around a gas station wherein tension would spark
an outrage of emotion and hostility. As retaliation for previously losing a fight to the student frustrated in the
store, he attempted to perform a "drive-by shooting" to kill him; however, Paco missed and ended up killing the
Cambodian Sindy's boyfriend. As a witness, Eva had to testify at court, knowing that she must protect her own
when the time comes. Later that night, as her father's daughter, she consulted her past, was trampled by the guilt
of not being able to defend him when she was younger, and affirmed herself that she must remain loyal. At this
moment, Eva faced friction and overwhelm on account of her objection to her existing morals and beliefs. This
initial challenge would set the foundation for the sequence of struggles, both internal and external, the girl
would come to resolve for the betterment of her life.

Later at school, Mrs. Gruwell had organized an exercise for the students that would unite them over
similar traumas they've endured. Initially, Eva suppressed her anger, futility, and disrespect in an enclosure of
discourtesy and was more expressive in her bias and ignorance. For example, she would talk back to Mrs.
Gruwell, leave class without permission, question her teaching qualifications, and even mock the lengths which
she'd go to connect and relate to the students, like when she made them analyze a lyric of Tupac's latest single.
However, with the "line game", Eva was able to open her eyes and mind to the struggles, many worse than she'd
expected, that her classmates experienced. The abuse, deaths, sorrows, and evictions shared among the
classroom were enough for the girl to have changed her perceptions and biases against the different ethnicities
in her classroom and to have expressed her sympathy towards them. This event also foreshadowed how Eva
would later befriend Sindy, the Cambodian girl, and served as the first glimpse of respect she gave to Mrs.
Gruwell and a major turning point for the fate of the class of room 203.

When the following year came along, there would be a drastic change in the now sophomore Eva. On
the first day of the new semester, Mrs. Gruwell had welcomed the class back with a "Toast for Change",
empowering the classmates to communicate their struggles and manifest their ambitions and what they'd wish to
change about themselves. After reading the Anne Frank Diary, the class raised the money to have Miep Gies fly
to America to tell of her experience when she'd helped Anne Frank and her family hide from the Nazis. She
convinced the students to become their own heroes, saying that within their own small ways they can "turn on a
small light in a dark room". These two events had inspired Eva to relieve the constraint of her father's demand
to protect her own no matter the expense or measure. At Grant's trial, she testified against her Paco, revealing
that he indeed had killed the man in the store. Although this betrayal brought attack, threat, and persecution
against her by members of her gang, it boldly displayed her bravery, sympathy, and understanding of right from
wrong, the result of the guidance provided by Mrs. Gruwell and the new beliefs and morals she'd developed
because of it.