Student Question
What is the conclusion of The Freedom Writers Diary?
Quick answer:
The conclusion of The Freedom Writers Diary is filled with hope, as the Freedom Writers all graduate from high school. They travel to Washington DC together, continue to support each other and others, spread their message through courses and programs, and prepare for a trip to Europe.
The Freedom Writers Diary ends with an epilogue that is filled to the brim with hope. The book tells the story of 150 young people labeled "unteachable" who end up in Erin Gruwell's class. Gruwell works hard to teach them important lessons about racism and hatred and how their behavior actually promotes these. She gets the students to write in journals, and she teaches them about the Holocaust and Anne Frank's diary, even helping them raise money to bring Miep Gies, the woman who hid Anne Frank and her family, to speak at their school.
Along the way, these "unteachable" students learn important lessons about life, people, and themselves. In the end, all 150 kids graduate from high school. They have beaten the odds and received an education. What's more, many go on to college.
These students also form bonds with each other that stretch beyond the classroom and into...
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advocacy for other young people. Together, they travel to Washington DC, and on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, they recite Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. Together (although they are physically scattered across the country), they learn how to adapt to college life away from the security of their high-school Room 203. Together, they pull other people up with them, relatives and friends alike.
These young people also begin to talk more and more about their experiences and activities. They develop a college course to help other young people learn to write for freedom. They continue to write for themselves as well. They even create a program called "Celebrating Diversity through Art" that reaches out to young people who are on the margins like they used to be.
At the very end of the book, the Freedom Writers are getting ready to travel to Europe together to visit the sites important in the life of Anne Frank. There is, however, a poignant note to this trip, for one of their number will be missing. He has passed away from complications of cystic fibrosis. The group will light a candle for him in every city they visit.
What is the climax of The Freedom Writers Diary?
The Freedom Writers Diary has a familiar story arc. Erin Gruwell and her students face adversity as they try to fight racism and bureaucracy in Woodrow Wilson High School and the local community. Gruwell meets with hostility and refusal from her school administration when she wants to stay with her sophomores for the rest of their high-school education. She is told she is making the other teachers look bad. She and the students receive death threats from the local community as they transgress racial boundaries, such as by attending a movie at an upscale white theater.
However, the climax or high point of the story comes when the Freedom Writers overcome adversity to be recognized with the Spirit of Anne Frank Award for their courage in confronting racism and prejudice in their society. At this heady and exciting time, however, they are faced with yet another challenge: how to raise money in only ten days so that all of them can go to New York to accept the award. At this climatic moment, a clothing company called Guess? offers to pick up the tab. Finally, the feel-good climax culminates when Doubleday contracts to publish their diaries, just as it did Anne Frank's.
Much of the success in this book is in its illustration of hope and of triumph over adversity. The book ends trying to inspire others to carry on the struggle and become part of the solution "by encouraging [them] to pick up a pen and be the catalyst for change."