Writing and Self-Expression Theme Analysis

While Maleeka Madison learns to become more confident at school, her new English teacher, Miss Saunders, assigns a writing project in which Maleeka is supposed to write from the perspective of a girl living in the 17th century. Knowing that she would have likely been a slave back then because she’s Black, Maleeka writes the diary from the perspective of a slave girl named Akeelma. As she sees the world through Akeelma’s eyes, Maleeka starts to draw connections between the events she’s writing about in Akeelma’s life and the events happening in her own life—which spurs her to confront much of the abuse that she faces at the hands of other students. In this way, writing isn’t just a means of creative expression: it can help a person understand themselves and their circumstances and empower them to shape their own story.

At first, Miss Saunders’s creative writing assignment helps Maleeka fully confront and understand experiences at school, as Maleeka draws parallels between her own situation and the fictional story she’s writing. Miss Saunders assigns her class to write a diary from the perspective of people living in the 17th century as an exercise in empathy. Maleeka writes as a 13-year-old slave girl named Akeelma, which she explains is close to “Maleeka” spelled backwards. Even in the character’s name, Maleeka ties herself to Akeelma, foreshadowing how she will draw on much of her own experience when writing about Akeelma’s experiences. In the first story that Maleeka writes, Akeelma is on a slave ship headed for America. She feels ugly, skinny, and wretchedly dirty. But she notices that, as bad as she feels, a boy named Kinjari likes to stare at her. One day, however, a girl who steals Akeelma’s food says that Kinjari has been tossed over the side of the boat, though Akeelma assumes the girl is lying. This mirrors Maleeka’s own situation, as she feels insecure about her looks but notices that a boy named Caleb likes her anyway. Meanwhile, Maleeka’s toxic friend Charlese, like the girl on the boat, tries to undermine Maleeka’s relationship with Caleb. In another story, Akeelma laments how the girl on the boat continues to steal food from her. The girl is “a lion who cares for no one but herself.” The connections between the girl and Charlese are strengthened because the day she writes this story, Charlese purposefully doesn’t bring any clothes for Maleeka to wear, and Maleeka is forced to wear the ill-fitting clothes her mom made for her instead. In her writing, Maleeka implicitly understands that Charlese cares only for herself, even if Maleeka writes about it only subconsciously. As the school year goes on and Maleeka continues to write, she thinks, “Lately it’s hard to know where Akeelma’s thoughts begin and mine end […] Akeelma [says] she’s scared that maybe people will always think she’s ugly. But I’m really talking about myself. I’m scared people will always think I’m ugly.” Maleeka directly connects her experiences to Akeelma’s and becomes conscious of how her writing is a way for her to work through her own feelings and experiences. 

Over time, as Maleeka becomes more aware of the parallels between Akeelma’s story and her own, her writing actually empowers her to stand up to the school bullies. The day that Charlese refuses to give Maleeka clothes, another of Maleeka’s bullies, John-John, makes fun of her for her clothing. Having just written one of Akeelma’s letters, Maleeka decides to confront him. She reflects that “I guess thinking about Akeelma makes me wonder why people treat others like they’re nothing.” In this way, Maleeka’s writing helps her recognize the unfairness of John-John’s bullying and empowers her to try to change it. At the end of the novel, when Charlese bullies Maleeka into taking the fall for vandalism that she and Charlese perpetrated together, Charlese calls Maleeka an “ugly, stupid, black thing.” In her head, Maleeka hears Akeelma say, “Call me by my name!” and Maleeka can’t help but shout the same thing at Charlese. Maleeka finally stands up to Charlese and tells Miss Saunders that Charlese was also involved in the vandalism. That Akeelma’s thoughts inspire Maleeka to tell the truth illustrates the power of her writing. It enables her not only to understand herself through the lens of a fictional character, but also to draw on the strength of the character she’s created and seek out power over and satisfaction in her own life.

Author Sharon Flake has stated in interviews that when her daughter Brittney was born, she began making up stories about tenacious girls with dark skin like she had. Years later, she published her first novel, The Skin I’m In, to help counter societal messages that belittled Black girls. Just as Akeelma helps illuminate Maleeka’s experiences and empower her, Flake wanted her writing to help young Black girls see themselves in a character—Maleeka—and feel empowered by her.