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Afterword: Diary 9
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Freedom Writers Diary, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Race, Ethnicity, and Tolerance
Education and Healing
Family and Home
Violence, War, and Death
Summary
Analysis
This Freedom Writer describes waking up at five in the morning being amazed at seeing himself, his wife, and their baby in the bedroom. He stares at the scene and remembers being homeless at fourteen, experiencing the pain of this memory, which will never go away and is a part of himself. He talks about his pain with his wife, and begins to laugh as he realizes that he married his best friend, a fellow Freedom Writer. He is excited to spend the rest of their lives together, as a family, and to try to be the best he can for the three of them.
This student’s current happiness and family stability contrasts starkly with his childhood, revealing the serious obstacles he has managed to overcome. His commitment to the future reveals his trust that this change is permanent. At the same time, he recognizes that his current attitude is shaped by his past, as the past has allowed him to find the motivation necessary to avoid repeating similar mistakes.
Themes
He describes the way in which his father abandoned his mother during her pregnancy. It was only when he saw their baby in person that he became accustomed to the idea of having a child and, by the time the baby was three years old, his father was fully present in his life. The romance between his parents, however, had all but disappeared, and they spent a lot of time fighting. In the end, he ended up leaving the family.
The period in which his father abandoned his mother and their nascent family left deep scars on the couple’s relationship. It demonstrates the father’s lack of commitment to adult responsibilities, such as being accountable to his actions and remaining a stable presence in other people’s lives.
Themes
This Freedom Writer promises to be there at every step of his son’s life, making sure to do the exact opposite of what his own father did. He realizes that his past hardships have made him stronger, allowing him to face the future head-on.
Like many others, this Freedom Writer uses his past as an example of what he does not want to do and as an opportunity to prove that he is stronger than his emotional wounds might suggest.
Themes
