Name:
English 7R
E4
Date:
Period:
Aim: How can we evaluate internal conflicts in The Skin I’m In?
Do Now: Miss Saunders asks her class, “What does your face say to the world.”
Determine how you would respond to this question if you were in her class.
Evaluate how the question would make you feel.
*** Do Now Ends Here ***
Define Internal Conflict -
I check my face out in the mirror. That cut from Daphne’s ring is gone.
Momma says I’m like Daddy. I heal fast. That ain’t the only thing Daddy and me
got in common. I got his eyes. Dark, almond-shaped eyes with long, thick black
lashes.
My lips, they’re like Momma’s. Full and wide. They look like that actor’s lips
on TV. I can’t think of his name, just now. But he’s got the kind of lips that make
you want to kiss him quick. Soft, smooth, pretty-looking lips. My nose and my ears,
I don’t know where they came from. They don’t look like Momma’s or Daddy’s. My
nose is small and pug. Daddy used to always pinch it when I was little.
I am the same color Daddy was. When I was little, he would come home from
work and say, “I sure could use me a warm cup of cocoa.” That meant for me to give
him a big hug and lots of kisses. I liked that.
I didn’t used to mind being this color. Then kids started teasing me about it.
Making me feel like something was wrong with how I look. And when Daddy
passed away, that just made things worse.
I stare at myself for maybe twenty minutes in Daddy’s mirror. I don’t get it.
I think I’m kind of nice looking. Why don’t other people see what I see? I think.
Out of the blue I get an idea. I’m gonna cut my hair. Cut it real short like the girl
on the cover of the magazine laying on my floor. I yell for Sweets to get off the
phone..”
“…I tell Sweets I’m gonna cut my hair. Gonna cut it real close. “People
gonna see I ain’t who I used to be,” I say.
“You gonna cut your hair off, like bald?” Sweets asks.
“Well, not that off. But close, like this,” I say, showing her the picture…..”
1. Determine the internal conflict(s) that Maleeka faces in the text.
2. Evaluate how she chooses to try and overcome her conflicts. Do you agree or
disagree with her choices?
Summary: Despite Maleeka’s positive feelings about her haircut, her peers still
tease her when she returns to school with it. She is devastated by their reaction
and is in tears.
I jump off the sink and lean close to the mirror on the wall, and think of
Daddy. “Maleeka,” he used to say, “you got to see yourself with your own eyes. That’s
the only way you gonna know who you really are.”
I reach down into my bag and pull out the little hand mirror Daddy gave me
and look at myself real good. My nose is running. I blow it and throw the tissue
away. I splash some water on my face and pat it dry. I reach deep down into my
pocketbook and pull out the little jar of Vaseline and shine up my lips. Then I ball
up my cap, stuff it in my backpack, and walk right on out of there.
1. Maleeka thinks of her fathers advice, “you got to see yourself with your own eyes.
That’s the only way you gonna know who you really are.” Explain what he meant
when he spoke these words. Do you agree or disagree with him?
2. Determine whether or not the reactions of Maleeka’s peers creates more or less
internal conflicts for her. Does she appear to have high or low self esteem at the
end of this text? Explain your choice.