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 28-32Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 28 Summary
Momma sends Maleeka out to get a few groceries. Outside, all the neighbors ask what happened and how a “smart girl” like her could have been suspended. When she turns the corner on the way to the store, she bumps into John-John, who is grinning about her suspension. He follows her, saying how he knows she didn’t do it alone but she’s a good scapegoat because she doesn’t have the “guts” tell on her accomplices.
Just then, three boys come and start beating up John-John because they say he got them in trouble for shoplifting. No one on the street does anything to intervene, and Maleeka also freezes at first, but then she asks the onlookers to call the cops. When Maleeka sees John-John’s blood, she remembers when two boys attacked her on her way home from Charlese’s—and this drives her to act. She grabs some branches from a bush and starts hitting John-John’s assailants. All three boys start beating her up. Then some adults come and break up the fight; Caleb and his mother are in the crowd as well. Caleb helps John-John up, and Maleeka heads home to tell Momma what happened.
Afterward, Momma gives Maleeka a letter from the library congratulating her on winning the writing contest. The school plans to display her writing in the library for a month. Momma starts crying; they wish Daddy were here for everything.
Chapter 29 Summary
Momma frames and hangs Maleeka’s congratulations letter. When Charlese calls on the phone, Maleeka tells her she has decided to tell on her and the twins. Charlese gets aggressive at first but then starts laughing and admits that she stole Miss Saunders’s watch and planted it in Maleeka’s locker; when the school authorities searched the locker, they found the watch and now believe Maleeka truly is the culprit. Charlese vows that she will beat Maleeka up if she tells on her. Maleeka is panicked and sure she will be expelled.
Chapter 30 Summary
Maleeka is disappointed that she will have to give the prize money back to the school for the damages. Miss Saunders shows up at the house, and Momma invites her in. Miss Saunders shows Maleeka the stolen watch and asks to talk. There have been rumors that it was Charlese’s idea to destroy the classroom. Miss Saunders asks for the truth, but Maleeka lies, saying some kids dared her to do it. Miss Saunders isn’t convinced and asks Maleeka to trust her, but Maleeka won’t confess. Miss Saunders leaves.
Chapter 31 Summary
The next day, Miss Saunders has arranged for Maleeka and Charlese to meet her in her classroom. Charlese continues to deny any involvement, but Miss Saunders asks Maleeka for the truth. Not only is Maleeka afraid of getting beat up if she tells the truth, but she also knows that Juju will beat Charlese. In the classroom, Charlese is scared and crying, threatening Maleeka. Also crying, Maleeka remembers the boys who attacked her and the boys who attacked John-John; she remembers Akeelma too. Charlese threatens Maleeka again and calls her ugly. Finally, Maleeka yells back, “Call me by my name!” (94). She asserts that she is not ugly and “if you don’t like me, too bad ‘cause black is the skin I’m in!” (94). She confronts Charlese about being so mean and confesses that Charlese and the twins were involved in the incident. Angrily, Charlese leaves. Miss Saunders hugs Maleeka, and she feels safe.
Chapter 32 Summary
A week later, Raina and Raise have been suspended and Charlese has been sent to live with her grandparents in Alabama. Although Maleeka’s office job is over now, she will miss it. When she leaves the office, she sees Caleb waiting at her locker. He has written a letter for her and asks her to wait until he leaves to read it.
She goes to the bathroom to open the letter and finds spearmint gum inside. She eats it and reads his poem, in which he compares Maleeka to chocolate candy and asks her to be his girl. The poem makes her cry; she will hang it on her bedroom wall. On the way to class, she finds Caleb in the hallway. He is red in the face and nervous. She tells him the poem was very nice and they smile at each other. Caleb walks Maleeka to Miss Saunders’s class. As always, Caleb smells good. Class is in the detention room while they repair Miss Saunders’s classroom. Maleeka is late, but Miss Saunders welcomes her in; “‘Yeah,’ John-John says, ‘welcome back’” (97).
Chapters 28-32 Analysis
The final chapters offer the rest of the climax (Chapters 27-31) and then the denouement of the story (Chapter 32). Denouement is a literary term referring to the closing part of a narrative where conflicts are resolved, drama declines, and the story ends. In these final chapters, Maleeka is put under a great deal of pressure, which helps complete her characterization as she responds to different obstacles and reveals her core integrity.
Although Maleeka has just helped destroy the classroom as Charlese demanded, Chapter 28 demonstrates how Maleeka is the opposite of Charlese. First, Maleeka is shown to be caring even to those who have wronged her. When Maleeka sees John-John being attacked, she defends him. Rather than take revenge on him for his years of bullying, she chooses kindness. This directly contrasts with the actions of Charlese, who schemed revenge against Miss Saunders (who never even wronged Charlese).
Chapter 31 again contrasts the two characters when Maleeka is shown to be honest. After Charlese has pressured her to hide what really happened in Miss Saunders’s classroom, Maleeka finally tells the truth and confesses. Conversely, Charlese planted Miss Saunders’s stolen watch in Maleeka’s locker and is comfortable lying.
Finally, Chapter 32 offers the denouement: Charlese is sent away, Maleeka can return to school, and she and Caleb resume their relationship. The ending resolves the conflict between Miss Saunders and Maleeka, as well as Maleeka’s own internal conflict. While at the beginning, Maleeka saw Miss Saunders as a “freak like me,” (7) she has grown to like Miss Saunders and to regard her and herself not as “freaks” but as beautiful and worthwhile people.
