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 student describes the momentous event of their meeting with Richard Riley. While she was afraid it might be a boring evening, filled with speeches for adults, she is captivated by what Riley has to say when he calls the Freedom Writers future leaders. She is impressed by his own tales of struggle and is proud to see that he seems impressed by their achievements. She realizes that education lays the path for success, and that even she could become an important person like him.
Despite not getting to know Riley on a personal level, this student feels inspired by this speaker’s words. The fact that such an important man as Riley found their stories interesting highlights their uniqueness and the fact that they could truly have a positive impact on other people—and that, in the future as well as in the present, the Freedom Writers are already leaders in their own right.
Themes
