Spiller begins her essay with the specific names she has been called due to the color of her skin such as “brown sugar” and “aunty”. She commentates on the meaning of being a “marked woman” in society. She is marked because the world will define her and black women without knowing anything about them. She is confined to societal stereotypes and categorized. Spiller remarks on the word choice and grammar used. The usage of distinct and particular  language is symbolic because it carries the past along with it. Spiller notes this language has heavy roots to the discrimination people of color have faced before her. Along with discrimination, these microagrressions carry the history of those before. This opening compares with Fanon’s from earlier in the term because Fanon also notes the forced placement black people in society have in relation to white people. Fanon explains how the world expects black people to emulate white people and perform. Both Spiller and Fanon notice the alienation people of color receive in a world constantly reminding them they are unwelcomed. In both Spiller’s and Fanon’s writing, their is a feeling of self versus what is expected or perceived. This conflict is one that people of color face. It is about figuring out your self worth even though the world treats you like you have none. Both writings address the humiliation when these nicknames or microaggressions take place. 

Language and word association has a big part in society. There is this subconscious bias in which the world’s people use to elude their true intentions and biases. “Peaches’ ‘ and  “brown sugar” are names of food and its dehumanizing. The nicknames remind me of foundation colors at makeup stores. Even now, the shade colors for darker tones are food items such as almond, chocolate, mocha, and  hazelnut. The same can not be said for the lighter ones as they are usually pearl, golden, nude, warm, and neutral. Microaggressions continue the oppression and antagonizing of people of color. Spiller’s essay “Mama’s baby Papa’s maybe” examines how language further adds to the categorization and dehumanizing nature society imparts to women of color. 

Coming from a mixed family, I have seen how people treat my siblings who are part black versus me who is part latina. In particular, my older sister has received unsolicited nicknames pertaining to her skin color since we were kids. She navigates this world with more hardship than I do and is categorized and expected to comply in silence to this injustice.

In “The Work of Art in the Age of its Technical Reproducibility”, Walter Benjamin describes aura as the work’s uniqueness, originality, and authenticity. The factor that produces said aura is how rare the piece is but also it’s creation from an artist.. Another factor that increases aura is if the piece is also only able to be viewed by a select few. This aura is created due to it being “one of a kind”. The social and cultural factors that create this “aura” is the exclusivity. Art throughout time has been restricted to the wealthy and distributed between them. Due to the wealthy being a small percentage, art that is not accessible retains this exclusivity and uniqueness with its aura. Aura is less prevalent in modernity, roughly since the mid 19th century, due to mass production and mechanical reproducitiblity. Mass production and mechanical reproducibility strip away aura because now many people have the work since it is reprintable. The uniqueness disappears and it’s mark is lessened as well as its essence. Benjamin states “It might be stated as a general formula that the technology of reproduction detaches the reproduced object from the sphere of tradition. By replicating the work many times over, it substitutes a mass existence for a unique existence.”​ The mass existence of the piece no longer has that aged and sole touch. A shiny perfectly preserved yet identical to millions piece  is now available instead of one hand touched by the artist that has survived the many years. This historical appreciation gets mentioned by Benjamin with him commenting that “Even the most perfect reproduction of a work of art·is lacking in one element: its presence in time and space, its unique existence at the place where it happens to be. This unique existence of the work of art determined the history to which it was subject throughout the time of its existence. This includes the changes which it may have suffered in physical condition over the years as well as the various changes in its ownership.” This attributes time, ownership, and condition to the definition of aura. As time passes, the work gets passed through many hands. Its previous owner adding to the cultural value. The aura gets added to. In our world today, the internet allows for art to be shared and reproduced in a second culminating in millions of copies of one image. NFTs are one way people are trying to bring aura back. The problem however remains the same as only the rich are able to buy them due to their price.

The Mirror Stage as Formative of the I Function by Jacques Lacan describes the mirror stage that occurs in child development. The “Ideal-I” or “the mirror stage” takes place between the age of eight months to sixteen months. This is the point where the child now is able to recognize themselves in the mirror and in a symbolic sense. The child starts to have a sense of identity with themself and who they are and how they fit into the world. This fundamental period is when children become aware of their presence and thus control their bodies and movements. Before this stage, infants were dependent on the nuturings of their parents. The guardian and child were a united and co functioning pair. Once the age of eight months is reached however, this symbiotic bond is lessened as the child now has a sense and recognition of “I”. Their reflection in the mirror and their reflection of themselves through the caregiver allows the child to form their own mental image of themselves. The mirror stage is a big deal and a critical part in the child’s development because no longer is the child’s view of itself a cluster of parts and fragmented. Now, the child can see itself as whole and in some sense “real” in an imaginary state. This state of being perceived in the “imaginary” is developed because “The mirror stage is a drama whose internal thrust is precipitated from insufficiency to anticipation – and which manufactures for the subject, caught up in the lure of spatial identification”(1166). This imaginary image that a child seeks more of during the age of eight to sixteen months is similar to what adults experience. This experience encompasses trying to be more like specific role models or emulating celebrity figures who are looked up to. This emulation occurs due to a constructed mirror image we create. This stage as described by Lacan correlates with Frued’s theories because the child’s image is entirely constructed through layers of itself and thus the ego is manifested. Freud would attribute this stage as a form of narcissism. The love of oneself is formed during this stage as the fascination with one’s own reflection is formed and sought after. This all establishes the imaginary order of the world and how the child fits into it. Once the imaginary order ends, the child will enter the symbolic order and they will further examine their place in the world.

The problem for Johnson with reading Billy Budd and reducing each character to the simple embodiment of an abstract quality is that it creates a disagreement over the meaning behind the story and a conflict between character and plot. Billy Budd begins with the description of three main characters. These characters are introduced as “the innocent, ignorant foretopman, handsome Billy Budd; the devious, urbane master-at-arms, John Claggart; and the respectable, bookish commanding officer, Captain the Honorable Edward Fairfax (”Starry”) Vere.” This introduction emphasizes the qualities of each man and creates the intended nature of the character going forward. However, despite nature, good, evil, judgment, each character opposes their fate and acts in opposition to their described self. The reader sees this reverse as Billy kills despite being innocent. This discrepancy continues with the other two main characters. Claggart dies a victim but is introduced as the embodiment of evil within the tale. Vere, whose nature is one of justice, balance, and judgment, allows a man to be hanged even though he believes him to be innocent. The initial reduction of good, evil, and judgment sets the reader forth considering the actions of each man to be in accordance with their nature. This nature being pre-established determines the qualities and therefore the plot of the tale. However, since the reverse is in effect the plot suffers. Johnson determines the only course of action is ”to save the plot and condemn Billy (“acceptance,” tragedy,” or “necessity”), or to save Billy and condemn the plot (“irony,” injustice,” or “social criticism”).” The plot of Billy Budd and the characters is discordant because the nature of the characters is inharmonious to their actions. Johnson also notes that readers have to make the rationale that “each is more important for what he is than what he does. . . . Good and bad, they occupy the region of good and evil.” With this justification, reading each character as the simple embodiment of an abstract quality is a suitable course but the plot still suffers and is deemed unimportant. Billy Budd’s reduction of each character’s nature is reminiscent of Nietzche’s ideology that humans tend to reduce something to its simplest form so we can grasp the concept but in the end, it is an equation of unequal things. Billy Budd, to me, is an equation of unequal things because the nature of each character is in reverse to their actions. These unequal things, however, equate to the story but it is up to the reader to dissect it and come to the realization of what gets sacrificed due to the reduction and simplification.