The Skin I’m In

by

Sharon Flake

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on The Skin I’m In makes teaching easy.

Charlese Jones Character Analysis

Charlese is a classmate of Maleeka’s at McClenton. Charlese is the toughest girl in school, and the year prior to the novel’s events, Charlese was one of Maleeka’s primary bullies—particularly when Maleeka started hanging out with Caleb. Maleeka then made a proposition: if Charlese agreed to hang out with her, Maleeka would do Charlese’s homework, which Charlese accepted. Charlese then started bringing Maleeka more fashionable clothes to wear so that she would be teased less. Still, even though Charlese and Maleeka are supposedly friends, Charlese continues to bully and insult Maleeka, often calling her names or insulting her appearance. Charlese’s bullying seems to stem from two sources: her own insecurity, and the way her older sister JuJu treats her. Charlese’s insecurity is exposed when Caleb pays Maleeka more attention than Charlese, or when Maleeka is able to buy clothes on her own and appears confident. When this happens, Charlese becomes jealous and tries to insult Maleeka, suggesting she isn’t as happy or confident as Maleeka is in these moments. Charlese’s also takes the lead from her 25-year-old sister JuJu, as their parents died two years prior to the novel’s events and JuJu is her sole caretaker. JuJu is often violent and insulting toward her sister and others, which sets an example for Charlese to act the same way. When JuJu threatens Miss Saunders over giving Charlese bad grades, which would force her to repeat the seventh grade for a third time, Charlese is spurred to violence herself. She coerces Maleeka to help her and her two friends, Raise and Raina, vandalize Miss Saunders room. But ultimately, Charlese’s actions come to haunt her: when Maleeka tells Miss Saunders that Charlese forced her to vandalize the room, JuJu sends Charlese to live with their grandparents in Alabama.

Charlese Jones Quotes in The Skin I’m In

The The Skin I’m In quotes below are all either spoken by Charlese Jones or refer to Charlese Jones. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Bullying and Insecurity Theme Icon
).
Chapter 1 Quotes

It’s bad enough that I’m the darkest, worst-dressed thing in school. I’m also the tallest, skinniest thing you ever seen. And people like John-John remind me of it every chance they get. They don’t say nothing about the fact that I’m a math whiz, and can outdo ninth graders when it comes to figuring numbers. Or that I got a good memory and never forget one single, solitary thing I read. They only see what they see, and they don’t seem to like what they see much.

Related Characters: Maleeka Madison (speaker), Miss Saunders, Charlese Jones, John-John McIntyre, Maleeka’s Mom
Related Symbols: Clothes
Page Number: 2-3
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 2 Quotes

Charlese, she’s crazylike. Next thing I know, she’s telling Miss Saunders to mind her own business. She says something about her face. Worm’s telling Char to cool it. He’s dragging her down the hall with his hand covering her big mouth. The new teacher don’t know when to quit. She tells Worm to hold on a minute. Then she says her piece. She’s letting Charlese know that she’s traveled all over the world, and there’s nothing Charlese can say about her face that she ain’t heard in at least four different languages.

Related Characters: Maleeka Madison (speaker), Miss Saunders, Charlese Jones, Worm
Page Number: 7-8
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 3 Quotes

Char says the dress would look perfect if I had some hips and boobs to go with it. Char blows a fat ring of stinking gray smoke in my face. I laugh, like everybody else. You got to go along with Char if you want to get along with her. You can’t be all sensitive. That’s what Char says.

Related Characters: Maleeka Madison (speaker), Charlese Jones, Maleeka’s Mom, Raise, Raina
Related Symbols: Clothes
Page Number: 12
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 4 Quotes

“Liking myself didn’t come overnight,” she says. “I took a lot of wrong turns to find out who I really was. You will, too.” Everybody starts talking at once, asking her questions. Miss Saunders answers ‘em all. Some kids even go up to her face and stare and point. She lets them do it too, like she’s proud of her face or something.

Related Characters: Maleeka Madison (speaker), Miss Saunders (speaker), Charlese Jones
Page Number: 19
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 5 Quotes

At school, everybody’s staring at me. Even John-John’s doing a double-take. When I walk into class, all eyes is on me. Char’s the only one that’s got something negative to say.

“So your momma finally broke down and bought you some clothes. About time,” she says, as soon as we get to Miss Saunders’s class.

Related Characters: Maleeka Madison (speaker), Charlese Jones (speaker), Miss Saunders, John-John McIntyre, Maleeka’s Mom
Related Symbols: Clothes
Page Number: 22
Explanation and Analysis:

Day in and day out Kinjari eyes me, staring like he sees the sun rising in my eyes. I want to ask him why he looks at me that way. Am I something so beautiful he can’t help but stare? I keep quiet. Beauty is where one finds it, my father used to say. […]

I was sick, bad, for a long while. When I woke up, Kinjari was gone. Dead. “He had the mark. The pocks,” the girl chained to me said, sucking her front teeth like they was soup bones. “The slavers tossed him over the side,” she said.

But this one, she steals my food. Can I trust her with the truth? I don’t know.

Related Characters: Maleeka Madison (speaker), Akeelma (speaker), Miss Saunders, Charlese Jones, Caleb Assam, Kinjari, Maleeka’s Dad
Page Number: 26
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 8 Quotes

I didn’t plan it that way. I just froze, I guess. The school is so big. So clean. So fancy. And them 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. No Almond Joy-colored girls like me. No gum-smacking, wisecracking girls from my side of town.

That didn’t bother Sweets none. She says she deserves to be in that school as much as anyone.

“You got the right color skin,” I said, poking her fat tan face.

“It’s not about color,” she said. “It’s how you feel about who you are that counts.”

Related Characters: Maleeka Madison (speaker), Charlese Jones, Caleb Assam, Sweets
Page Number: 39-40
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 12 Quotes

“New clothes, huh?” he says, trying to be smart.

I stop walking and turn to him and ask real smart like, “Why you always picking on me?” I ain’t sure what’s come over me. I guess thinking about Akeelma makes me wonder why people treat others like they’re nothing.

“Chill, Maleeka,” John-John says, strutting down the hall alongside me. He gets quiet, and I hear his big sneakers squeaking every time they hit the floor.

Related Characters: Maleeka Madison (speaker), Charlese Jones (speaker), John-John McIntyre (speaker), Maleeka’s Mom, Akeelma
Related Symbols: Clothes
Page Number: 61
Explanation and Analysis:

He says something stupid-crazy. Says it was back in second grade when I first moved to the Heights. I walked into class that first day with my new pink polka-dotted dress on and black patent leather shoes. The teacher told me to sit in the desk next to his. I said I didn’t want to. I wanted to sit in the one up front, next to Caleb.

“That half-white punk,” John-John says, knowing full well Caleb ain’t mixed.

Now my mouth’s hanging open. “I didn’t even know Caleb back then,” I say. “I wanted to sit up front, ‘cause I couldn’t see the board,” I explain. […]

“No matter,” he says. “You given me plenty of reasons not to like you since then. Thinking you super-smart. Acting like you too good for me.”

Related Characters: Maleeka Madison (speaker), Caleb Assam (speaker), John-John McIntyre (speaker), Charlese Jones
Page Number: 62
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 24 Quotes

At midnight, if you have eyes to see
There’s beauty and there’s majesty.

Char don’t understand what’s going on with me. She looks at me and calls me stupid, the way I’m smiling to myself.

Related Characters: Maleeka Madison (speaker), Charlese Jones, John-John McIntyre
Page Number: 127
Explanation and Analysis:

“Listen up, Maleeka,” Caleb says, grabbing hold of my arm, and whispering in my ear. “Your girl Char is whacked. You better stay clear of her before she ends up taking you down with her.”

“Char and me are friends,” I say quietly.

“Yeah, right,” Caleb says, shaking his head. “Char’s the kind of friend that will get you locked up or shot up,” he says, walking away.

Related Characters: Maleeka Madison (speaker), Caleb Assam (speaker), Miss Saunders, Charlese Jones
Page Number: 129
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 25 Quotes

“This ain’t right,” I whisper.

Char grabs hold of my hand, and says, “Do it, or I ain’t never gonna bring you no clothes.”

I shake my head. “No.”

“You protecting Miss Saunders?” Char wants to know. “You protecting that hussy? Why? She don’t like you, neither. All the time making a fool out of you in class. You stupid girl. Do like I say or I’ll do something to mess you up.”

Related Characters: Maleeka Madison (speaker), Charlese Jones (speaker), Miss Saunders, JuJu, Raise, Raina
Related Symbols: Clothes
Page Number: 135
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 31 Quotes

“All I done for you,” Char says. “You gonna leave me out to dry like this. Wait till later, you ugly, stupid black thing.”

Call me by my name! I hear Akeelma say, and I scream it out, too. “Call me by my name! I am not ugly. I am not stupid. I am Maleeka Madison, and, yeah, I’m black, real black, and if you don’t like me, too bad ‘cause black is the skin I’m in!”

Related Characters: Maleeka Madison (speaker), Charlese Jones (speaker), Miss Saunders, Caleb Assam, Akeelma, Maleeka’s Dad
Page Number: 157-158
Explanation and Analysis:

Charlese gives me a hard look.

She pushes past Miss Saunders and me and makes her way to the door. “Look at you two—two ugly-faced losers,” she says. Miss Saunders don’t even stop Char. She lets her go. Then Miss Saunders hugs me to her, and I feel safe inside.

Related Characters: Maleeka Madison (speaker), Charlese Jones (speaker), Miss Saunders
Page Number: 159
Explanation and Analysis:
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The Skin I’m In PDF

Charlese Jones Quotes in The Skin I’m In

The The Skin I’m In quotes below are all either spoken by Charlese Jones or refer to Charlese Jones. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Bullying and Insecurity Theme Icon
).
Chapter 1 Quotes

It’s bad enough that I’m the darkest, worst-dressed thing in school. I’m also the tallest, skinniest thing you ever seen. And people like John-John remind me of it every chance they get. They don’t say nothing about the fact that I’m a math whiz, and can outdo ninth graders when it comes to figuring numbers. Or that I got a good memory and never forget one single, solitary thing I read. They only see what they see, and they don’t seem to like what they see much.

Related Characters: Maleeka Madison (speaker), Miss Saunders, Charlese Jones, John-John McIntyre, Maleeka’s Mom
Related Symbols: Clothes
Page Number: 2-3
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 2 Quotes

Charlese, she’s crazylike. Next thing I know, she’s telling Miss Saunders to mind her own business. She says something about her face. Worm’s telling Char to cool it. He’s dragging her down the hall with his hand covering her big mouth. The new teacher don’t know when to quit. She tells Worm to hold on a minute. Then she says her piece. She’s letting Charlese know that she’s traveled all over the world, and there’s nothing Charlese can say about her face that she ain’t heard in at least four different languages.

Related Characters: Maleeka Madison (speaker), Miss Saunders, Charlese Jones, Worm
Page Number: 7-8
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 3 Quotes

Char says the dress would look perfect if I had some hips and boobs to go with it. Char blows a fat ring of stinking gray smoke in my face. I laugh, like everybody else. You got to go along with Char if you want to get along with her. You can’t be all sensitive. That’s what Char says.

Related Characters: Maleeka Madison (speaker), Charlese Jones, Maleeka’s Mom, Raise, Raina
Related Symbols: Clothes
Page Number: 12
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 4 Quotes

“Liking myself didn’t come overnight,” she says. “I took a lot of wrong turns to find out who I really was. You will, too.” Everybody starts talking at once, asking her questions. Miss Saunders answers ‘em all. Some kids even go up to her face and stare and point. She lets them do it too, like she’s proud of her face or something.

Related Characters: Maleeka Madison (speaker), Miss Saunders (speaker), Charlese Jones
Page Number: 19
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 5 Quotes

At school, everybody’s staring at me. Even John-John’s doing a double-take. When I walk into class, all eyes is on me. Char’s the only one that’s got something negative to say.

“So your momma finally broke down and bought you some clothes. About time,” she says, as soon as we get to Miss Saunders’s class.

Related Characters: Maleeka Madison (speaker), Charlese Jones (speaker), Miss Saunders, John-John McIntyre, Maleeka’s Mom
Related Symbols: Clothes
Page Number: 22
Explanation and Analysis:

Day in and day out Kinjari eyes me, staring like he sees the sun rising in my eyes. I want to ask him why he looks at me that way. Am I something so beautiful he can’t help but stare? I keep quiet. Beauty is where one finds it, my father used to say. […]

I was sick, bad, for a long while. When I woke up, Kinjari was gone. Dead. “He had the mark. The pocks,” the girl chained to me said, sucking her front teeth like they was soup bones. “The slavers tossed him over the side,” she said.

But this one, she steals my food. Can I trust her with the truth? I don’t know.

Related Characters: Maleeka Madison (speaker), Akeelma (speaker), Miss Saunders, Charlese Jones, Caleb Assam, Kinjari, Maleeka’s Dad
Page Number: 26
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 8 Quotes

I didn’t plan it that way. I just froze, I guess. The school is so big. So clean. So fancy. And them 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. No Almond Joy-colored girls like me. No gum-smacking, wisecracking girls from my side of town.

That didn’t bother Sweets none. She says she deserves to be in that school as much as anyone.

“You got the right color skin,” I said, poking her fat tan face.

“It’s not about color,” she said. “It’s how you feel about who you are that counts.”

Related Characters: Maleeka Madison (speaker), Charlese Jones, Caleb Assam, Sweets
Page Number: 39-40
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 12 Quotes

“New clothes, huh?” he says, trying to be smart.

I stop walking and turn to him and ask real smart like, “Why you always picking on me?” I ain’t sure what’s come over me. I guess thinking about Akeelma makes me wonder why people treat others like they’re nothing.

“Chill, Maleeka,” John-John says, strutting down the hall alongside me. He gets quiet, and I hear his big sneakers squeaking every time they hit the floor.

Related Characters: Maleeka Madison (speaker), Charlese Jones (speaker), John-John McIntyre (speaker), Maleeka’s Mom, Akeelma
Related Symbols: Clothes
Page Number: 61
Explanation and Analysis:

He says something stupid-crazy. Says it was back in second grade when I first moved to the Heights. I walked into class that first day with my new pink polka-dotted dress on and black patent leather shoes. The teacher told me to sit in the desk next to his. I said I didn’t want to. I wanted to sit in the one up front, next to Caleb.

“That half-white punk,” John-John says, knowing full well Caleb ain’t mixed.

Now my mouth’s hanging open. “I didn’t even know Caleb back then,” I say. “I wanted to sit up front, ‘cause I couldn’t see the board,” I explain. […]

“No matter,” he says. “You given me plenty of reasons not to like you since then. Thinking you super-smart. Acting like you too good for me.”

Related Characters: Maleeka Madison (speaker), Caleb Assam (speaker), John-John McIntyre (speaker), Charlese Jones
Page Number: 62
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 24 Quotes

At midnight, if you have eyes to see
There’s beauty and there’s majesty.

Char don’t understand what’s going on with me. She looks at me and calls me stupid, the way I’m smiling to myself.

Related Characters: Maleeka Madison (speaker), Charlese Jones, John-John McIntyre
Page Number: 127
Explanation and Analysis:

“Listen up, Maleeka,” Caleb says, grabbing hold of my arm, and whispering in my ear. “Your girl Char is whacked. You better stay clear of her before she ends up taking you down with her.”

“Char and me are friends,” I say quietly.

“Yeah, right,” Caleb says, shaking his head. “Char’s the kind of friend that will get you locked up or shot up,” he says, walking away.

Related Characters: Maleeka Madison (speaker), Caleb Assam (speaker), Miss Saunders, Charlese Jones
Page Number: 129
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 25 Quotes

“This ain’t right,” I whisper.

Char grabs hold of my hand, and says, “Do it, or I ain’t never gonna bring you no clothes.”

I shake my head. “No.”

“You protecting Miss Saunders?” Char wants to know. “You protecting that hussy? Why? She don’t like you, neither. All the time making a fool out of you in class. You stupid girl. Do like I say or I’ll do something to mess you up.”

Related Characters: Maleeka Madison (speaker), Charlese Jones (speaker), Miss Saunders, JuJu, Raise, Raina
Related Symbols: Clothes
Page Number: 135
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 31 Quotes

“All I done for you,” Char says. “You gonna leave me out to dry like this. Wait till later, you ugly, stupid black thing.”

Call me by my name! I hear Akeelma say, and I scream it out, too. “Call me by my name! I am not ugly. I am not stupid. I am Maleeka Madison, and, yeah, I’m black, real black, and if you don’t like me, too bad ‘cause black is the skin I’m in!”

Related Characters: Maleeka Madison (speaker), Charlese Jones (speaker), Miss Saunders, Caleb Assam, Akeelma, Maleeka’s Dad
Page Number: 157-158
Explanation and Analysis:

Charlese gives me a hard look.

She pushes past Miss Saunders and me and makes her way to the door. “Look at you two—two ugly-faced losers,” she says. Miss Saunders don’t even stop Char. She lets her go. Then Miss Saunders hugs me to her, and I feel safe inside.

Related Characters: Maleeka Madison (speaker), Charlese Jones (speaker), Miss Saunders
Page Number: 159
Explanation and Analysis: