48 pages • 1 hour read
Sharon G. FlakeThe Skin I'm In
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1998A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 19-22Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 19 Summary
The chapter opens with the newest diary entry: Akeelma and the others are taken up to the deck where they finally see the sun. Up there, she also sees Kinjari again.
The narrative returns to Maleeka, who is in the detention room in the school basement with Miss Birdy, the detention teacher. Caleb comes in and sits near Maleeka. He tells her he has detention because he was caught cleaning the boys’ bathroom. Miss Birdy catches them talking and separates them, but Caleb comes back closer once she looks away. Maleeka is astonished at the thought of someone voluntarily cleaning something disgusting like the boys’ room, but she remembers that Caleb and his father volunteer often, so he is proud of the work. When Caleb starts to chat about the cleaning process and about how people should take better care of bathrooms, Miss Birdy separates them again, so they switch to passing notes.
In a note, Caleb tells Maleeka that he cleaned the bathroom because he wanted to stand up for the right thing. Maleeka is confused, since he didn’t stand up for her when the kids were teasing her on the bus. Instead of writing a note back to him, she ignores him and writes her own diary entry about how much she likes Caleb but struggles to forgive him. When she’s done writing, Caleb stares at her for a while and then, instead of writing another note, speaks aloud and says he wants their friendship to be repaired. He apologizes for leaving her on the bus during the field trip; he explains that he thought the teasing would stop if he left her, but now he sees that’s not the case. He still really likes her and wants her back. Maleeka wants to forgive him but can’t bring herself to do it quite yet. Still, when Caleb promises not to let her down, she nods.
Chapter 20 Summary
Maleeka is supposed to meet Miss Saunders after school to review her diary entries, but she delays for nearly an hour instead (partly out of spite because Miss Saunders is the one who got her in detention). When Maleeka finally goes to the classroom, Miss Saunders has already gone to the auditorium to check the audio equipment; her students will be giving their speeches on stage tomorrow. Maleeka makes her way to the auditorium and sees Miss Saunders and Tai clearing the stage. Maleeka overhears Miss Saunders say that half of her students are already failing the class due to poor test-taking skills. Tai encourages her not to fail the kids, but Miss Saunders doesn’t want to give them what they haven’t earned. She explains that growing up, she was treated as lesser because of her face, so she had to be better than everyone else at things. At McClenton, too, she works hard to provide the best education. Tai suggests that Miss Saunders’s perfectionism may be too much pressure for her and the kids. Miss Saunders takes out a mirror to fix her lipstick and spots Maleeka in the reflection.
Chapter 21 Summary
Miss Saunders is irritated that Maleeka was eavesdropping. Tai calmly explains to Maleeka that eavesdropping is not polite, and Maleeka swears not to share what she has heard. Miss Saunders is still suspicious.
The next day, Maleeka sees Charlese and knows she’s one of the failing students whom Miss Saunders mentioned to Tai. Still, Maleeka stays quiet about what she heard. Charlese says she told Juju she’s failing English because Miss Saunders doesn’t like her—and Juju said she’ll take care of it. In other words, Miss Saunders is in for some trouble.
After school, Maleeka meets with Miss Saunders to discuss her diary entries. Miss Saunders gives her two A’s for the work because it’s very good. She suggests Maleeka do more, but Maleeka isn’t interested in extra homework. Miss Saunders expresses concern about Maleeka possibly sharing what she overheard, saying she can’t have her “personal business” circulating among students. Maleeka says she won’t say anything, but Miss Saunders paces the room silently and anxiously. Maleeka tells Miss Saunders she’s not the only one who has been teased; she says some people are the “wrong color” or the “wrong size” or have the “wrong face”—but that doesn’t make them “wrong people.” There are a lot of good things about them, and Maleeka knows there are good things about herself. Miss Saunders agrees, saying that Maleeka is good at math and writing. Before she can start discussing grades, Maleeka asks Miss Saunders if she has friends. Miss Saunders says it has been hard to keep friends because she used to travel so much for work. Maleeka mentions that Tai must be her friend, and Miss Saunders agrees.
Chapter 22 Summary
Maleeka signs up at the library for a writing contest with a $100 prize. She spends the night neatly rewriting and adding to her Akeelma entries to submit tomorrow. In the newest entry, Akeelma learns that Kinjari has been working the crew and eating better. Akeelma worries that he will stay on the ship because it is a freer place to be, but Kinjari promises he would rather be with her.
In the morning, Momma says Maleeka is a good writer like her Daddy was. Momma tells her about a poem he wrote for her, and Maleeka runs upstairs to find it in Momma’s closet. Maleeka is near tears as she goes through the box with photos of her and Daddy. She finds the poem written on a brown paper bag. In the poem, he calls her “My Maleeka,” saying she is “Brown / Beautiful” and “Brilliant.” Momma calls out to Maleeka that she’s going to be late for school. Maleeka puts the poem and a photo in her pocket and heads downstairs. Momma asks if she found anything, but they don’t discuss it in detail—Momma isn’t ready to discuss Daddy. As Maleeka leaves for school, she can hear Momma at the sewing machine.
Chapters 19-22 Analysis
These four chapters bring many pivotal plot developments, and Maleeka’s character arc gradually becomes more hopeful. Chapter 19 is a big turning point when Caleb tries to repair their friendship; because he’s been one of the few sources of kindness in Maleeka’s history, his reentry into her life is like a page turning. This sense of renewal increases when Maleeka discovers that Caleb never meant to shun her—in fact, he thought he was doing her a favor by leaving her on the field trip bus. This revelation retroactively mends a major fracture of pain and rejection in Maleeka’s life. These events take on even more meaning in light of how the chapter opens with a diary entry from Akeelma in which she sees her beloved Kinjari. Because Kinjari’s appearance directly precedes Caleb’s, this parallel further intertwines the diary entries with the life of their author, Maleeka. Moreover, in this diary entry, Akeelma focuses on the sun; this symbolizes the new hope that Maleeka feels in her life—and it foreshadows the hopeful trajectory of her character arc.
Chapters 20 and 21 focus on developments in Maleeka’s relationship with Miss Saunders. When the protagonist overhears details about her English teacher’s painful childhood, this inadvertently brings the two characters a new level of emotional intimacy. It also shifts the power balance, as Miss Saunders feels almost at Maleeka’s mercy and asks her to keep the information confidential. When Maleeka honors Miss Saunders’s request, this builds their trust. The situation also gives Maleeka the opportunity to offer wisdom to Miss Saunders, just as Miss Saunders has given Maleeka: She tells Miss Saunders that while others may think she has the “wrong face,” she is not a “wrong person.” While Miss Saunders already knows this truth that Maleeka imparts to her, she needs the reminder; the student therefore momentarily becomes the teacher, while the teacher becomes the student. This is a key moment in Maleeka’s maturation and coming of age.
The narrative’s sense of restored hope builds up to Chapter 22, when Maleeka finds the poem her Daddy wrote for her. This poem captures a father’s affirming love for his daughter, and the use of alliteration emphasizes this. Alliteration is a literary device that refers to the repetition of the letters or sounds at the beginning of nearby words. Daddy’s poem is as follows:
Brown
Beautiful
Brilliant
My my Maleeka
is
Brown
Beautiful
Brilliant
Mine (72).
The repetition of the “b” in the first three words emphasizes the relationship between them. By connecting brown with beauty and brilliance, Daddy affirms that Maleeka’s dark skin is beautiful, despite other kids calling it ugly. Likewise, he affirms her intelligence, which is especially important for her as a brown girl in a society that perceives “inner-city” Black kids to be less intelligent. When the poem repeats those three words again toward the end, the repetition adds to the emphasis. The alliteration of the “b” also evokes the way the mouth moves when speaking the sound: Just as lips come together and separate to make the sound, a fatherly kiss might look and sound the same. In this way, Daddy’s affection lives on through the kiss-like “b”s in his poem.
The other main alliteration in this poem appears with the letter “m” in “My my Maleeka” and “Mine.” The “m” sound can be interpreted as expressing comfort and contentment, as when someone says, “mmmm” when relaxing or eating something delicious (like the chocolate Maleeka is frequently compared to). The “m” words also connect Maleeka’s name to a sense of affectionate possession—“mine” and “my.” This conveys a sense of belonging, family, and home. This belonging is especially important for Maleeka who constantly endures bullying and exclusion. Her only true friend is Sweets, who attends another school. Meanwhile, the coming chapters will show the lengths that Maleeka goes to belong in a group of friends—Charlese, Raina, and Raise—who do not care about her.
