Themes

 This novel is about growing up as a teenager. The themes in the novel can be having and fulfilling dreams, friendship and falling in love. The theme having and fulfilling dreams is linked to Brianna's dream of becoming a successful rap artist. She enters competions and wins, and she also dares to record a song which she hopes will be a success.

Friendship is also a big part of the novel. At school she hangs out with her two good friends, Sonny and Malik, and they support her both when she succeed in her rap career and when she finds school challenging.

Narrator

The story  in "On the Come Up" is told through a limited narrator. It is the main character, Brianna, who tells the story. In that way we get a lot of insight into her thoughts and actions, and limited information about the other characters. The point of view is a first person narrator, and in that way we who read the story almost feel like we are Brianna when we read. I feel that the narrator is reliable because all the information given about Brianna seem true. An example is when Brianna tries to smuggle chocolate into school, and is later accused of smuggling drugs. We as readers believe Brianna when she says it was chocolate and not drugs.

Events in the novel

 One event that has happened in the novel is when Bri arrives at school one morning and is stopped by the security guards. They ask her to open her backpack, but she refuses. The security guard then grabs her arm, presses her to the ground with her face on the floor. She is taken to the pricipal's office, and the prinicipal calls her mother. When her mother turns up, Jay is ferious because the guards have used violence in order to stop her daugther. This event ends with Bri getting a two-day suspension due to the fact that she had brought chocolate to school which was not allowed, and the school admits that they were wrong in using violence when trying to get Bri to open her backpack.

Another event is when Bri and her aunt and manager have decided that she should record one of her songs. She is taken to a worn down garage where they meet a producer called Doc....

Setting in " On the Come Up"

 The novel is set in the USA in recent time. The character use mobile phones, and watch You Tube. 

The main character is a "hood-kid", and lives in a black neighbourhood called the Garden. 15 minutes away is another black neighbourhood called Maple Grove which is much more dangerous with drugs and shootings.

She used to live with her grandparents, but now she lives with her mother. Her mother has just lost her job, and they are in a difficult financial situation  

She goes to a school where they have to go through a metal detector in order to enter the school, and there are many security guards who monitor the pupils.

Bri is also in a rap environment where she gets attention and is a star.

Characterization of Bri

 Brianna Jackson is a 16-year-old girl who attends high school and lives with her mother, Jay. Her father was killed when she was four years old. Her greatest passion is rapping, and she is quite ambitious and confident that she will become a famous rapper. When entering the Ring which is a rapper competion, she is nervous at first, but still manages to perform well and win the competion. Her father was a famous rapper, and everyone around her compares him to her. She does not like this, and wants to be independant.

Characters in "On the Come Up"

 We are introduced to several characters in the beginning of the novel. Brianna Jackson, or Bri, is the main character. She is at school, and her teacher is called Mrs Murray. She has two friends, Sonny and Malik. Her father is dead, but she lives with her mother and big brother called Trey. She is waiting for a phone call from a person called DJ Hype who is a rapper.