
In the book however it goes over all the real problems that happened to these “at risk” kids involved with all the major setbacks they might go through.
#FREEDOM WRITERS BOOK VS NOVEL MOVIE#
Freedom writers diary is a movie and a book obviously… the movie is lighter on the details when it comes to drugs, substance abuse or even gang related violence. Because the education system had deemed them “at risk,” Gruwell’s colleagues were unwilling to devote the time, energy, and attention to the students that would foster a positive, safe environment for them to not only tolerate their differences but to accept and even appreciate them. Many of them were victims of substance abuse. Many of them had been abused or molested. Many of the students had lost a friend or loved one to senseless violence. Gruwell taught them that they actually had more in common than they wanted to believe. Gruwell’s students hated one another for no reason other than they thought they were supposed to because of gang histories and stereotypes.

The most significant theme in The Freedom Writers Diary is tolerance and understanding. The book was very intriguing but now the real question is how do the movie and book correlate with eachother. Instead of being one basic journal entry its 150 high school students and their diary entries put together to form a revelation and discovery about the rich history of the holocaust. Evidently, ‘Freedom Writers’ is based on an amazing true story.The book The freedom writer’s diary is a very different book compared to others. This led to the publication of the New York Times best-selling book and the critically acclaimed film.

And I just had to understand why they were resistant to reading and writing in school.” She actively sought to uncover their stories, and by doing that, she helped them become storytellers. After Gruwell established the non-profit organization Freedom Writers Foundation in 1997 with the Kingston Technology Company co-founder John Tu acting as the benefactor, some of her former students started working under her.Īsked in an interview about how she connected with her students, Gruwell stated that “as a new teacher, I just wanted my students to put down their fists and pick up a pen and embrace that cliché that the pen is mightier than the sword. Writers commonly use this type of external conflict in mythology-based stories and in the fantasy genre. This struggle shapes the characters actions and development. Gruwell encouraged her students to read books like ‘Night’ by Elie Wiesel, ‘Zlata’s Diary: A Child’s Life in Sarajevo’ by Zlata Filipović, and Anne Frank’s ‘The Diary of a Young Girl.’ The last one, in particular, had a remarkable effect on several of her students, including a girl named Maria Reyes, who is reportedly the inspiration for the character Eva Benitez (April Lee Hernández) in the film.Ī post shared by Freedom Writers all 150 of Gruwell’s students graduated from high school, and quite a few of them went on to attend college. In character versus fate conflicts, the writer portrays a struggle between a character and a larger force, such as gods or fate. The students came to be known as the Freedom Writers, the name of which serves as a tribute to the 1960s multiracial civil rights group Freedom Riders.

They realized that they had more things that they thought in common beyond racial differences and community violence. Just like in the film, the students started keeping journals following her instruction, and that habit brought them closer to each other than ever before. She taught the same group of students in their sophomore year. She also convinced distinguished personalities to come and speak to her students. She then arranged for them to watch ‘ Schindler’s List’ and purchased books with her own money. The movie Freedom Writers was produced in 2007 by Richard LaGravenese and starred Hilary Swank, Patrick Dempsey, and Imelda Staunton these people made an inspirational story come to life (imdb). Much to her surprise, most of her students didn’t know about one of the bleakest chapters of human history. After she came across a note depicting a racist caricature of one of their classmates, she spoke to them about how racist drawings like that were indirectly connected to horrifying events in world history such as the Holocaust. When Gruwell started teaching, her optimism and tenacity were met with skepticism from the students.

As a result, the students came to believe that the system had betrayed them. The students that she was assigned to were reportedly regarded as “ unteachable” by school administrators. In 1994, Gruwell joined Woodrow Wilson High as a student-teacher. LaGravenese developed the script for the film from the 1999 book ‘The Freedom Writers Diary,’ a compiled version of the journal entries by the real Erin Gruwell and her students. Yes, ‘Freedom Writers’ is based on a true story. Is Freedom Writers Based on a True Story?
