Adriana Fernanda Robles Fuentes

202111023

Freedom Writers Essay

The main lessons and themes in The Freedom Writers are tolerance, empowerment
and self-worth, and the power of writing. The most significant theme in The Freedom
Writers is tolerance and understanding. Gruwell's students hated one another for no
reason other than that they thought they were supposed to because of gang histories
and stereotypes.
Tolerance: Through literature, Gruwell teaches her students the power of tolerance and
enables them to better understand each other and the world around them.
Empowerment and self-worth: Gruwell empowers her students by giving them an
outlet through which to express themselves both personally and creatively.
The power of writing: Through their readings and writing assignments, Gruwell's
students come to understand both the cathartic values of writing as well as its ability to
impact the world.
In the movie, The Freedom Writers Mrs. Erin Gruwell plays a role of a dedicated teacher
who did all she could, to help her students learn to respect themselves and each other.
She has little idea of what she's getting into when she volunteers to be an English teacher
at a newly integrated high school, but her students were divided along racial lines and
had few aspirations beyond basic survival. Mrs. Gruwell was faced with a big challenge
when a group of freshmen students showed her nothing but disrespect which made it
hard for her to communicate, teach and understand them. However, Erin Gruwell was
determined that no matter the cost she would teach her students. They were stories of
broken and dysfunctional homes, being kicked out of the house for being part of a gang,
to being beaten up just because they were different. Reading these journals Mrs. “G”
realized how similar each student’s stories were no matter the race, ethnicity or gender.
Even though the students did not see eye to eye, they all had many things in common:
they were all in gangs; they each had their own stories to tell; each student has dealt with
the shooting of a friend, each student want to communicate to others, and each student
wanted to be respected. Upon realizing all of the similarities between each student, Mrs.
“G” then began to strive for her students to realize this too, so she comes up with a “line
game” for the students. She places a line on the floor with tape and the students walk to
the line when the question that Mrs. “G” asks applies to them. At first she asks silly
questions like “How many of you have the new Snoop Dogg album?” or “How many of
you have seen Boyz n the hood?” but as the game goes on she begins to ask more
serious questions like “How many of you have lost a friend to gang violence?” when
every single student steps up to the line for each question they begin to realize that
beneath their race their ethnicity and affiliation to a gang, that as teenagers they are a
lot alike, with many of the same experiences.
Adriana Fernanda Robles Fuentes
202111023