The Skin Im In Summary

“I am no bird, and no net ensnares me, I am a free human being with an independent will”-Charlotte Bronte. Sometimes, we face challenges that sometimes capture us from making those important decision in life. It could be our appearance or the way we interact with society which it “ensnares” us all. All of these details mold us in the way we are. In the story “The Skin Im In” By Sharon G. Flake, Maleeka’s negative experiences and relationships have helped her mold into an isolated and anti-social person. This can be proven because Maleeka is a dark skin colored person, with hand-made clothes, and is usually humiliated because of her appearance and possessions. She also has a teacher in which she does not want to even talk to the teacher or Ms. Saunders. her appearance is very strange to her and Maleeka is afraid that this woman

will ruin her reputation and status amongst others.
The story’s first relationship is between John-John, her bully, and herself.

She is always trying to escape his humiliating jokes and she tries not to show that she is humiliated in front of everyone. She constantly wishes to disappear before anyone else include themselves into John-John’s crusade against her. Their pessimistic relationship makes her desire to “fit-in” practically unaccountable for. Maleeka’s clothes, appearance, and status among others acts as an inducement for John-John so he can easily aggravate Maleeka. According to the text ”Seems like people have been teasing me all my life. If it aint about my color, it’s my clothes” What this quote suggests is that Maleeka is usually targeted either by her clothes or her skin color. She is never left alone and bullies always end up getting through those barriers and use this other tribute against her. John-John’s insolent behavior spreads to everyone there and becomes something everyone knows about, and that is what Maleeka wants to stop, the constant feeling of this dissing being spread and then pushed down onto her. This is what is abolishing all of her chances of fitting

in.
The story’s second relationship is between Charlese and Maleeka, and is one of the most significant, if not the most significant relationships in the excerpt. What contributes to this relationship’s importance is Maleeka’s interpretation of identity is her reputation and some sort of “popularity status” among others. She thinks that in order to be the most popular and the most respected, you must follow and have these certain criteria: she thinks that you must be able to maintain a good relationship with others, to keep an exceptional appearance which is something that Maleeka is struggling to gain and control since her mother makes her homemade clothes. Her last criteria is to be at the top, to be constantly in check that nobody will be higher than you and have possible chances of bullying you. “They look it, too—lopsided pockets, stitching forever unraveling. I never know when a collar's gonna fall off, or a pushpin gonna stick me and make me holler out in class. I stopped worrying about that this year now that Charlese lends me clothes to wear. I stash them in the locker and change into them before first period. I'm like Superman when I get Charlese's clothes on. I got a new attitude, and my teachers sure don't like it none.” This quote states that these new clothes give her this new motivation and this self-esteem that she is a few steps closer to become a fit-in and popular person. However when Charlese demands her to take it off, this self-esteem, the few steps that she had taken to become better, had been taken away, and now that she already had lived with it and felt how it was to be known and better in at the school, it makes the change even worse, as she falls down those steps she had taken and had a much worse fall, than if she never had those clothes on.