How is Brianna’s identity represented within On the Come Up?

Angie Thomas’ novel On the Come Up has plenty of characters that battle with their sense of identity, most notably Brianna, whose identity is portrayed as confused, uncertain, and unassertive. Since Brianna is always absorbing the opinions of everyone around her, she lets them speak for her rather than finding her own voice. In her songs, she also creates a false persona or character that is influenced by what she observes in her neighbourhood, but it is not true to who she really is. In addition, some others believe they know Brianna’s identity because of stereotypes based on her skin colour or the identity of her late father. This major struggle that Brianna has with her identity is shown throughout the entire book and readers can see that her identity is predominantly represented negatively. 

Throughout the book, it is evident that Brianna is susceptible to external influences that cause her to believe or act in ways that are not true to who she is. At other moments in the book, rather than Brianna speaking for herself, other people speak on her behalf. This prevents her from expressing who she is and allows other people to have a greater impact on her decisions and identity as a whole.

“I know. But I wanna stay with my mom.” Grandma goes, “Hm!” like she doubts it… “Oh, it was something,” says Sister Daniels. “Curtis said security threw her on the ground.” Grandma gasps. Sister Daniels lives for gasps like that. “Threw you?” Grandma says. “What in the world they do that for?” “They thought she had drugs on her,” Sister Daniels says before I can say a word… “Brianna, what you doing with drugs?” says Grandma. “I didn’t have drugs, Grandma,” I mumble. “Sure didn’t,” Sister Daniels says. “She been selling candy. Curtis claims them guards love to start mess. They’re at fault, but Brianna still got suspended.” Welp, no need to tell my own story. I’ll just let Sister Daniels take over at this point. In fact, why don’t I just let her write my autobiography since she knows so damn much?” (Thomas, On the Come Up, 122)

This passage from the book makes it clear to readers that Brianna is not allowed to speak, express, or make decisions for herself when certain individuals are present; it also tells readers that Brianna is quite frustrated with the situation, not letting her talk and belittling her identity. Furthermore, this quotation can be seen to influence Brianna based on decisions that were not in her control with the additional gossip and gasps by her Grandma and Sister Daniels. These simple and generic reactions are quite criticizing, making Brianna feel less entitled to her own decisions, thoughts, and individuality as a person; causing her to feel frustrated, uncertain, and unassertive. The reader learns plenty about the circumstances and Brianna’s true feelings from the terms “autobiography” and “damn much.” She expresses her feelings using a direct address with sarcasm and a metaphor to exaggerate her feelings, providing an insight into her thoughts and reactions while conveying her frustration and annoyance towards Sister Daniels’ intrusion into her narrative. The entirety of this passage has a perspective shift that Angie Thomas perfectly included, this allows Brianna to have an internal monologue and a stream of consciousness that interrupts the main dialogue to showcase her true identity and perspective on the situation, revealing her frustration with the gossip regarding her. Additionally, the gossip that is being shared between the two women reflects the misconceptions surrounding Brianna’s incident, showing the broader societal issues inside schools regarding racial profiling, stereotypes, false rumours, and criminalization of black youth.

In the book, Brianna is a young teenage girl who aspires to become a famous rapper. However, she fabricates a false persona or character for her songs along her journey. Rather than being authentic, she writes and raps about what she observes in her neighbourhood in order to appeal to others. 

They wanna call me a hoodlum? Fine. I’ll be a goddamn hoodlum… This Glock, yeah, I cock it and aim it. That’s what you expect, bitch, ain’t it? The picture you painted, I frame it…Pin me to the ground, boy, you fucked up. Wrote me off, called your squad, but you lucked up. If I did what I wanted and bucked up, You’d be bound for the ground, grave dug up…Strapped like backpacks, I pull triggers.  (Thomas, On the Come Up, 110)

This quotation from the book is a portion of Brianna’s song which mentions violence, firearms, and vulgar language. All of these lyrics are written out of anger for the incident that happened to her at school, but the lyrics are not true to Brianna at all. While writing her songs she creates a new character of herself that is not true to her identity, but she still says it because she knows it appeals to a certain genre of kids. As Miles says “Use whatever they think of us to our advantage. You know who the biggest consumers of hip-hop are?” “White kids in the suburbs,” Miles answers dryly”  (Thomas, On the Come Up, 215). This false identity that Brianna creates that appeals to other people negatively affects her throughout the book, this is due to the fact that she gets confronted countless amounts of times with situations she cannot deal with. The key phrase “Strapped like backpacks, I pull triggers” captures the false persona of Brianna as a  “hoodlum” which is completely false and she acknowledges that when her best friend wants to listen to her song.    

It takes everything in me not to tell him, “No!” I became a whole new person when I stepped up to that mic—it happens whenever I rap. But when Sonny hears “On the Come Up,” he won’t hear Bri the rapper. He’ll hear Bri his best friend…When I got on that mic, it was just me and the mic… I just said what Bri the rapper wanted to say.  (Thomas, On the Come Up, 133)

In this passage, Brianna characterizes her transformation into “a whole new person” through her rapping, describing her false identity and personification within figurative language. This shows Brianna’s fear of her friends’ and family’s opinions of her when they hear a song that is anything but authentic to her true self. In order to emphasize this fear, Angie Thomas uses a stream of consciousness to demonstrate how Brianna is conflicted with her emotions and desires related to her artistic aspirations and her friendship with Sonny. This passage is crucial to the story, as it highlights the theme of Brianna’s self-discovery and the slight realization that she has tension between her public persona as a rapper and her private identity that she shares with her family and friends. 

Throughout the entire book certain people believe they know who Brianna is, choosing her identity for her based on stereotypes, her skin colour, her gender, and because of her late father. All of this affects Brianna on a mental level, feeling like her identity revolves around everything but her.

I didn’t have anything on me that day. I don’t have anything on me today. Not even candy. I’m done selling that shit, since it makes people think I’m a drug dealer. Yet I’m shaking as if I really am a drug dealer. It’s like how when I go in a store in Midtown-the-neighborhood, and the clerks watch me extra close or follow me around. I know I’m not stealing, but I get scared that they think I’m stealing. (Thomas, On the Come Up, 139)

This section from the book describes how others stereotype and judge Brianna because of her skin colour, which has always been a part of her identity and is sometimes taken to a point where people think she is a gangster, thief, or hoodlum. Brianna is greatly impacted by this since it frightens and confuses her. The word “scared” in the quotation expresses this fear that Brianna has, simply because she is black and people assume who she is based on that, implying they know her identity. The language feature of repetition is used with the phrase “I didn’t have” emphasizing Brianna’s insistence on her innocence, frustration, and truth with being falsely perceived as a drug dealer. This accusation of Brianna being a drug dealer also appears later in the book at a PTA meeting, where a white woman speaks her mind on the situation.

A middle-aged white woman steps to the other mic. “Hi, my name is Karen Pittman,” she says. “This is not so much a question but a comment. I currently have a tenth grader here at Midtown. This is my third child to attend this wonderful school. My oldest son graduated seven years ago, before the various initiatives were put into place. During his four years here, there were no security guards. This will probably be an unpopular comment, but I think it must be pointed out that security measures were only heightened once students were brought in from certain communities, and rightfully so.”…“There have been weapons brought on campus,” Karen claims. “Gang activity. If I’m not mistaken, Officers Long and Tate recently apprehended a drug dealer on campus.” (Thomas, On the Come Up, 320)

This quotation shows other people’s views on Brianna as well as other people of colour in a racist and criticizing tone to get their point across in a dehumanizing manner. Karen Pittman directs her speech toward the people of colour at Midtown High School, especially the “drug dealer on campus”, which is Brianna. She establishes her concern in formal, articulated, and scared direct speech to further add frustration to her statement, but she criminalizes Brianna’s identity as a human, referring to her as a “drug dealer” and an “initiative.” This false viewing of identity on Brianna isn’t just present due to her racial features, but due to her father. 

The headline? “Teen Daughter of Murdered Underground Rap Legend Lawless Just Killed Us her Damn Self with This New Heat!” Side note: Do I have a name or nah? It’s short enough that it could’ve fit, too. (Thomas, On the Come Up, 199)

This quotation from the book demonstrates how Brianna is viewed as the “Teen Daughter of Murdered Underground Rap Legend,” with him taking the success of a popular song that was originally Brianna’s, robbing her of her identity and giving it to her late father. The entirety of this news headline links to real-life media coverage of hip-hop culture and how it is taken out of proportion, painting people of colour as gangsters, thugs, and hoodlums while not giving them the real artistic credit they deserve.

In the entirety of Angie Thomas’ book, On the Come Up, Brianna is seen as a strong character who deals with a major flaw of not staying true to who she is. Brianna deals with identity issues regarding other people’s expectations due to her father, opinions of actions that are not in her control and influences around her neighbourhood. Certain people take it to the next level by accusing her of being things she’s not based on her skin colour and stereotypes around people of colour. But Brianna also paints a negative picture of her own identity, creating a false persona around rap and actions that she truly does not play a part in.

Work Cited

Thomas, Angie. On the Come Up. HarperCollins Publishers, 2020.