Zlata's Diary

Zlata’s Diary has been through many publications and translations. How do the 1994 Introduction, written by reporter Janine di Giovanni, and the adult Filipović’s 2004 Preface change the context of the diary? Does knowing that Zlata survives or hearing of her life after the war detract from the story? How does her adult voice differ from the diary’s voice, and in what ways do they remain the same?

What needs are essential to children? What desires are typical? How does war rob Zlata of her childhood, and what aspects of it remain?

How does Zlata’s youth contribute to the emotional impact and popularity of the diary? How similar or different would an adult’s account of the events be?

As Zlata grows, her writing style develops as well, with passages using increasingly sophisticated rhetorical devices to record events and capture deeper emotions and thoughts. Choose a device like irony, metaphor, personification, or motif and explore its function within the work.

Zlata uses a motif of light and darkness through her diary. What meanings does she ascribe to light, and what meanings does she ascribe to darkness? What does the interplay between light and darkness reveal about deeper themes and her character development over time?

In the Preface, Filipović writes that her life’s goal is to further the understanding of war. In what ways does her diary accomplish this?

Relationships play a key role in Zlata’s diary. Choose a close friend or family member from the diary and trace the development of their relationship with Zlata over time. How does Zlata characterize this person and their relationship? In what ways does this relationship help Zlata maintain Hope and Perseverance?

List several kinds of loss associated with the war, starting with the concrete and moving into the abstract. Which losses affect Zlata the most? Does her attitude toward these losses change over time? To what degree do Zlata’s losses correspond to wartime losses broadly?