The Freedom Writers Diary

The Freedom Writers Diary

by

Erin Gruwell

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Zlata Filipović Character Analysis

Compared to Anne Frank because of her depiction of the horrors of war, twelve-year-old Zlata writes from 1992 to 1993 about the effects of the Bosnian war on her hometown, Sarajevo. Trapped in the middle of a genocidal war, Sarajevo was taken under siege and its inhabitants forced to live lives defined by the daily threat of death. Many of Ms. Gruwell’s students, who experience the daily threat of gang-related violence and racial tensions, identify with Zlata’s reality. When she comes to Long Beach to meet the Freedom Writers, she impresses the students with her maturity and, at the same time, with her surprising normalcy, as she proves to be an adolescent similar to them in many ways.

Zlata Filipović Quotes in The Freedom Writers Diary

The The Freedom Writers Diary quotes below are all either spoken by Zlata Filipović or refer to Zlata Filipović. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Race, Ethnicity, and Tolerance Theme Icon
).
Letter to Zlata Quotes

They say America is the “Land of the Free and Home of the

Brave,” but what’s so free about a land where people get killed? […] I am a fifteen-year-old teenage boy whose life seems to be similar to yours. In your diary you said you watched out for snipers and gunshots. I watch out for gangsters and gunshots. Your friends died of gunshots and my friend Richard, who was fifteen, and my cousin Matthew, who was nineteen, also died of gunshots. The strange thing is . . . my country is not in a war. (Or is it?)

Related Characters: Tommy Jefferson (speaker), Zlata Filipović
Page Number: 78
Explanation and Analysis:
Part IV: Diary 47 Quotes

I have always been taught to be proud of being Latina, proud of being Mexican, and I was. I was probably more proud of being a “label” than of being a human being, that’s the way most of us were taught. Since the day we enter this world we were a label, a number, a statistic, that’s just the way it is. Now if you ask me what race I am, like Zlata, I’ll simply say, “I’m a human being.”

Related Characters: The Freedom Writers (speaker), Zlata Filipović
Related Symbols: The Diary of Anne Frank
Page Number: 93
Explanation and Analysis:
Part IV: Diary 48 Quotes

When Zlata wrote about Bosnian children becoming the “soldiers” and the soldiers becoming “children,” at first I didn’t get her meaning. After hearing Tony’s story, I understood. In war the innocence of a child is lost, and though the soldiers fee I theirs is a worthy cause, they behave like children when trying to achieve their goals. Knowing that a grown man entered a child’s bedroom stealing his innocence makes me sad.

Related Characters: The Freedom Writers (speaker), Zlata Filipović, Tony
Related Symbols: The Diary of Anne Frank
Page Number: 95-96
Explanation and Analysis:
Entry 6: Ms. Gruwell Quotes

Zlata said writing was her salvation during the war and it kept her sane. She suggested that writing might be one of the best vehicles for some of my students to escape their horrific environments and personal demons. Even though they’re not held captive in an attic or dodging bombs in a basement, the violence permeating the streets is just as frightening—and just as real.

Related Characters: Erin Gruwell (speaker), Zlata Filipović
Related Symbols: The Diary of Anne Frank
Page Number: 139
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire The Freedom Writers Diary LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Freedom Writers Diary PDF

Zlata Filipović Quotes in The Freedom Writers Diary

The The Freedom Writers Diary quotes below are all either spoken by Zlata Filipović or refer to Zlata Filipović. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Race, Ethnicity, and Tolerance Theme Icon
).
Letter to Zlata Quotes

They say America is the “Land of the Free and Home of the

Brave,” but what’s so free about a land where people get killed? […] I am a fifteen-year-old teenage boy whose life seems to be similar to yours. In your diary you said you watched out for snipers and gunshots. I watch out for gangsters and gunshots. Your friends died of gunshots and my friend Richard, who was fifteen, and my cousin Matthew, who was nineteen, also died of gunshots. The strange thing is . . . my country is not in a war. (Or is it?)

Related Characters: Tommy Jefferson (speaker), Zlata Filipović
Page Number: 78
Explanation and Analysis:
Part IV: Diary 47 Quotes

I have always been taught to be proud of being Latina, proud of being Mexican, and I was. I was probably more proud of being a “label” than of being a human being, that’s the way most of us were taught. Since the day we enter this world we were a label, a number, a statistic, that’s just the way it is. Now if you ask me what race I am, like Zlata, I’ll simply say, “I’m a human being.”

Related Characters: The Freedom Writers (speaker), Zlata Filipović
Related Symbols: The Diary of Anne Frank
Page Number: 93
Explanation and Analysis:
Part IV: Diary 48 Quotes

When Zlata wrote about Bosnian children becoming the “soldiers” and the soldiers becoming “children,” at first I didn’t get her meaning. After hearing Tony’s story, I understood. In war the innocence of a child is lost, and though the soldiers fee I theirs is a worthy cause, they behave like children when trying to achieve their goals. Knowing that a grown man entered a child’s bedroom stealing his innocence makes me sad.

Related Characters: The Freedom Writers (speaker), Zlata Filipović, Tony
Related Symbols: The Diary of Anne Frank
Page Number: 95-96
Explanation and Analysis:
Entry 6: Ms. Gruwell Quotes

Zlata said writing was her salvation during the war and it kept her sane. She suggested that writing might be one of the best vehicles for some of my students to escape their horrific environments and personal demons. Even though they’re not held captive in an attic or dodging bombs in a basement, the violence permeating the streets is just as frightening—and just as real.

Related Characters: Erin Gruwell (speaker), Zlata Filipović
Related Symbols: The Diary of Anne Frank
Page Number: 139
Explanation and Analysis: