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Chapter 24
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Skin I’m In, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Bullying and Insecurity
Self-Esteem, Support, and Friendship
Writing and Self-Expression
The Importance of Role Models
Summary
Analysis
Very early the next morning, Maleeka meets Charlese, Raise, and Raina at school. They sneak past the janitor and enter Miss Saunders’s room, which is unlocked. Raise puts glue all over a pillow and then smears the pillow across the windows. Charlese yanks some curtains down and jabs holes in them with scissors. Maleeka doesn’t move until Charlese prompts her to do something; she erases As in Miss Saunders’s grade book and replaces them with Ds.
Charlese’s behavior shows the influence that JuJu has had on her as a bad role model. Because her sister tends to act angrily and even violently, Charlese resorts to anger and violence for her own vengeance. Not only that, but she also bullies other people into following her lead. Maleeka is clearly uncomfortable with what they’re doing, particularly because Miss Saunders has been so supportive of Maleeka and her education—and yet Charlese’s threats lead Maleeka to go along with the plan anyway.
Themes
Charlese tells Maleeka to burn the foreign money on Miss Saunders’s desk. Maleeka shakes her head, but Charlese threatens not to let her have the bag of clothes that she brought, calling Maleeka stupid and flicking an open lighter close to her head. When Charlese puts her hand on Maleeka and squeezes until Maleeka hears her bones crack, Maleeka agrees. She sets the money on fire, crying. She wishes she could undo the whole schoolyear.
Charlese continues to use both violence and manipulation to maintain power over Maleeka. She confirms once more that she and Maleeka don’t have a supportive friendship; instead, it’s one fueled by bullying and intimidation. And while Maleeka has grown more secure in herself, she now worries about the consequences of trying to escape Charlese’s influence. This once again exposes the irony of their relationship: Charlese already bullies Maleeka and influences her to do terrible things, so Maleeka shouldn’t be worried about distancing herself from Charlese.
Themes
Suddenly, Maleeka notices that the curtains on the wall caught fire. She, Charlese, Raina, and Raise start to run. Maleeka grabs the bag of clothes that Charlese brought, but it rips. As she tries to collect the clothes and run, the janitor notices her, and then he sees the fire in the classroom. Maleeka runs down the school steps and scrapes her knee. She dashes home, crying her eyes out as fire trucks approach the school.
Here, Maleeka experiences the consequences of being involved with someone as volatile and vicious as Charlese—it can result in tangible harm, like setting Miss Saunders’s classroom on fire. Additionally, Maleeka’s desperation for the clothes as she runs out is symbolic: her the clothes represent her insecurity about being accepted. And her preoccupation with the clothes are what cause her to be caught by the janitor and blamed for what Charlese and the other girls forced her to do. This again illustrates the harm that insecurity can cause, as going along with the crowd and desperately trying to be liked only gets Maleeka into trouble.
Themes
