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Part VI: Diary 92
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
When this student goes back to school after the Washington trip and sees commotion, he assumes that the media is there to report on the Freedom Writers. However, he soon learns that a student at Wilson High, Jeremy Strohmeyer, has been arrested for raping and murdering a little girl at a casino. This student feels shocked and confused at what has happened, since Jeremy is an acquaintance of his. He believes that Jeremy had a dark personality that was exacerbated by possession of child pornography and drugs.
Despite the Freedom Writers’ achievements, the students are still forced to face the senseless brutality of other people’s violent actions. This highlights the fact that a commitment to peace and justice is never-ending, as new challenges arise constantly, requiring one to adapt to fight new circumstances as they emerge. It also suggests that there are limits to any social effort, as it is impossible to prevent people from becoming violent.
Themes
At the same time, he feels sad that the media has focused only on this terrible event, instead of reporting the much more positive news about the Freedom Writers’ trip to Washington. He feels that the media stereotypes young people in a narrow way.
Since the Freedom Writers have found so much inspiration in positive role models, this student realizes that showing only negative information in the media could keep young people from engaging in positive, inspiring actions themselves.
Themes
