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.
Themes
Colorism and Unfair Beauty Standards
The Skin I’m In addresses the issue of colorism. Colorism is discrimination against individuals with darker skin, an issue that especially affects African American women. Colorism is a result of Eurocentric beauty standards, or standards of beauty that privilege features and complexions that typify people of European heritage. Being a text about a young African American girl, The Skin I’m In spotlights and challenges this common prejudice. The subject of colorism allows author Flake to explore standards of beauty more broadly and teach the lesson that internal beauty is of the utmost importance.
Throughout the novel, both Maleeka and John-John experience the effects of colorism. Maleeka experiences teasing because of her skin color. John-John tells her, “I don’t see no pretty, just a whole lotta black” (8). John-John’s remark reinforces a belief that Blackness and prettiness are mutually exclusive—that is, that someone can either be Black or pretty, but never both. This kind of thinking negatively affects Maleeka. She sabotages her own interview for Central Middle School—a good school across town—because of her anxiety about fitting in with lighter-skinned students. She says, “[T]hem girls… they looked like they come out of a magazine. Long, straight hair. Skin the color of potato chips and cashews and Mary Jane candies” (27).
While John-John throws colorist teasing at Maleeka, he himself is vulnerable to colorism. The narrative later reveals that John-John believes others perceive him negatively because of his darker skin. He torments Maleeka for years because he believes she favored the lighter-skinned Caleb over him. John-John calls Caleb a “half-white punk,” even though Caleb isn’t biracial. Ultimately, John-John’s mockery of Maleeka demonstrates his own struggle with self-hate.
Miss Saunders is an example of someone who also departs from beauty standards. Rather than being dark-skinned, however, she has a mark across her face and an unusual body type (she is very tall with small feet). Miss Saunders offers another way to view skin besides the lens of race. While she loves her skin, she also encourages Maleeka to love her own skin: “Maleeka, your skin is pretty. Like a blue-black sky after it’s rained and rained” (8). While this compliment affirms Maleeka’s external beauty, it also demonstrates Miss Saunders’s internal beauty. She goes out of her way to be kind to Maleeka. For example, she stops by Maleeka’s house when Maleeka gets in trouble for burning the classroom. Maleeka follows her example when she goes out of her way to help John-John in a fight.
The Skin I’m In explores the issue of colorism and the unfair societal beauty standards. While the story offers a positive message of appreciation for dark skin, it also affirms that beauty transcends skin. Ultimately, Flake shows that beauty is not dependent on any skin color but is about what is on the inside.
The Balance Between Self-Love and Selflessness
Young people often struggle with loving themselves and developing a high self-esteem. The Skin I’m In focuses on this issue as it follows Maleeka’s journey toward self-love. Maleeka navigates accepting herself, her dark skin, and her writing skills and intelligence. However, the most important part of Maleeka’s journey of self-love is a commitment to loving others as well. The novel demonstrates that self-love alone is not adequate; it must be balanced with a love for others.
The novel offers two examples of self-love in Jerimey and in Charlese. Both characters love themselves a lot, but it is to a fault. When the class discusses Romeo and Juliet, Jerimey disagrees with the characters’ sacrificial love: “‘Ain’t doing no dying for nobody but me. It’s cold but true. Don’t love nobody as much as my own fine black self,’ he says, kissing his arm from shoulder to fingertip” (43). While his comment reflects the truth that one must love oneself to love others, he misses out on the importance of selflessness. This is also true of Charlese, who is very selfish. She believes she is important, worthy of respect, and attractive. However, she seeks the attention of boys only when it means hurting someone else—as with Worm or Caleb—and she does not treat others with the same kindness she expects. Both Jerimey and Charlese portray self-love that has gone too far.
The Skin I’m In teaches that self-love must be balanced with compassion. This lesson is evident in Miss Saunders. Like Jerimey and Charlese, she loves herself. She tells the class, “My face says I’m smart. Sassy. Sexy. Self-confident” (16). However, while she is confident, she also is willing to show love to others, as with her special interest in Maleeka’s talent for writing. The story concludes with Maleeka following Miss Saunders’s example, loving herself and believing in her affirmation that “I’m kinda nice-looking” (28).
The Many Forms of Bullying
Bullying is a major theme in The Skin I’m In and another major conflict that Maleeka faces. The bullying takes several forms: teasing, exploitation and peer pressure, and violence. As Maleeka deals with each kind of bullying, she shows the reader the dangers of bullying as well as the potential to overcome it.
The first form of bullying that the novel introduces is teasing and mocking. Maleeka receives this from John-John and his friends, as they taunt her: “Maleeka, Maleeka—baboom, boom, boom, we sure wanna keep her, baboom, boom, boom, but she so black, baboom, boom, boom, we just can’t see her” (8). This and other remarks leave her feeling sad and frustrated and even caused her boyfriend Caleb to leave her. However, Maleeka overcomes this teasing when she finally challenges John-John toward the end of the novel: “‘Why do you hate me?’ I ask, looking right at John-John” (39). Rather than accept his mockery any longer, Maleeka stands up for herself.
The second form of bullying Maleeka must face is exploitation and peer pressure. This comes from Charlese, who leads the twins Raise and Raina in this bullying as well. They use Maleeka to do their homework, to take care of problems for them (as with Charlese’s messed up lunch in Chapter 11), and to take the blame for their damage to Miss Saunders’s classroom. Maleeka is obedient to their demands for most of the novel, but she finally reaches her breaking point. She tells Charlese, “No matter what you think, Charlese Jones, you’re ten times worse. I would never force someone to burn down a classroom, or pick on kids weaker than me, or say words so mean they make people bleed inside” (95). In this confrontation, Maleeka demonstrates her strength and refusal to be exploited any longer.
Finally, Maleeka must face bullying in the form of violence. In her first major encounter with violence, she gets into a fight with Daphne who accuses her of kissing her boyfriend, Worm. The altercation leaves Maleeka badly beaten. Later, three street boys attack her on the walk home from Charlese’s house. While she gets away, she is very frightened. In the final encounter, however, Maleeka stands up for herself. She grabs branches to beat the boys who are attacking John-John. While it is ultimately the adults who stop the fight, her resolve to fight back demonstrates her growth as a character.
The Skin I’m In reinforces the message that bullying is never acceptable. In order to warn and inform readers, Flake shows the various forms bullying can take, and she encourages young readers to stand up for themselves and even seek help when they are not strong enough to succeed alone.
