Wholeness
Lorde's writing is nuanced and complex, but her solution to the political and social problems in her society can be described with one simple concept: wholeness. She describes the way in which dominant forces in western society have created false binaries, separating, for instance, emotion and rationality, even though they are two inseparable parts of a whole. She identifies a similar problem within feminism and other political movements, pointing out that participants are often expected to present only a small part of their whole identities—disguising or downplaying, for instance, their race, their sexuality, or their familial relationships. Lorde urges her readers to view the world around them in a less fractured way, and insists that political progress will be made only when individuals' differences from one another are viewed as natural strengths rather than irreconcilable divisions.
Poetry
Audre Lorde is known as a poet as well as an essayist and theorist, and she frequently quotes from poetry—her own and others'—to demonstrate her arguments in this collection. This use of poetry to drive home political points is very much in keeping with the argument articulated in "Poetry is Not a Luxury," in which Lorde posits that the stereotype of poetry as a mere inconsequential game is both untrue and destructive. While powerful figures may not need poetry, Lorde implies, poetry is in fact an essential tool to connect the internal, emotional world and the external, rational one. This is one example of Lorde's general argument about the importance of wholeness. Poetry, seen through this lens, helps create wholeness by demonstrating the interconnectedness of all facets of life. Lorde's poetry, which uses a good deal of figurative language, implicitly argues that the world is more interconnected than it appears. Metaphor is, essentially, an argument that one thing is comparable to another, seemingly unlike thing. Thus, Lorde's frequent use of metaphor in her poetry demonstrates her devotion to the ideal of interconnectedness, and to the idea that poetry should be a means of creating that interconnectedness.
The Uses of Language
In essay after essay—most explicitly in "The Transformation of Silence Into Language and Action"—Lorde emphasizes the importance of speaking out and putting one's innermost feelings and instincts into words. She informs readers that feeling, if unexpressed, will cause emotional harm and eventually emerge in unexpected and undesirable ways. If thoughtfully explained, though, feelings, even unpleasant ones such as anger, can be used to build real change in the external world. This argument is not entirely separate from Lorde's arguments about wholeness and completeness. Language, in the form of poetry, prose, or conversation, is used to both articulate differences and build meaningful connections between people. Language, therefore, is a kind of bridge between forcibly or artificially separated people and things. In this sense, it is a truly powerful tool for building solidarity and reimagining entrenched realities.
Race and Gender
Though race and gender are the two most prominent topics in Sister, Outsider, they can be understood as a single theme precisely because Lorde refuses to approach them as two separable entities. Since she is herself both Black and a woman, Lorde draws on her own experiences of oppression and solidarity to critique sexism among Black men, racism among white women, and the complex intertwining of these two hatreds in the world as a whole. Sister, Outsider is edited and arranged specifically to emphasize the interrelated nature of race and gender. For instance, the essays "Sexism: An American Disease In Blackface" and "An Open Letter to Mary Daly" appear side-by-side in the collection. Respectively, these essays critique a Black male academic's misogyny and a white female academic's racism, juxtaposing the two to show how Black women are often ignored in conversations about both of these issues. In one of the collection's last essays, "Eye to Eye: Black Women, Hatred, and Anger," Lorde describes how the scorn directed at Black women from white and male society is internalized, causing disunity even among Black women. Therefore, at every turn, Lorde's writing and this book's editing assert that neither race nor gender can be discussed in a vacuum.
Sexuality
Lorde often describes herself as a "Black feminist lesbian," and just as it is nearly impossible to separate gender and race in her writing, it is nearly impossible to separate sexuality from either of these topics. Rather than describing her sexuality as a mere issue of attraction, Lorde speaks of it as a form of closeness between women. In this sense it is both a tool of political solidarity and a threat to those who benefit from infighting and competitiveness between women. For instance, she argues, many Black men do not want Black women to form close relationships with each other, whether sexual or otherwise, since they will then become aware of their collective power and their lack of a need for men to protect them. Though Lorde discusses her sexuality through a political lens, this does not mean that her analysis omits the topic of sex itself. Rather, as she explains in her essay "The Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power," she considers eroticism and sensuality to be political in and of themselves.
Illness
In Notes From a Trip to Russia, Audre Lorde and her companion encounter a man in Uzbekistan who has many questions about life as a Black person in America. He asks Lorde to confirm a rumor that Black Americans have to pay for their own medical care. Lorde informs him that all Americans are forced to do so, and will sometimes die if they cannot. The man's shocked silence neatly challenges the reader to consider the ways in which sick people are treated by the American healthcare system. Lorde speaks about illness as both a structural, economic issue and a deeply personal one. In The Transformation of Silence Into Language and Action, she describes the torment of a three-week period prior to getting a tumor removed. In this personal capacity, illness serves a purpose much like poetry or eroticism, as Lorde describes them—it illuminates one's life and prompts a reevaluation of previous choices, leading to an epiphany or transformation. Therefore, Lorde describes illness itself as an inevitable, sometimes strengthening aspect of life, but argues that it should be addressed in a more humane way by the American government.
Motherhood
These essays occasionally feature appearances by Lorde's two children, a girl named Beth and a boy named Jonathan. They are described as intelligent and often funny individuals, but they also become lenses onto a range of maternal and political concerns. Lorde worries that her daughter will internalize the hatred so often directed at Black women by both the outside world and one another. In "Man Child: A Black Lesbian Feminist's Response," she describes her fears about raising a Black male child in a society that is both racist and misogynistic. Lorde's identity as a mother also reaffirms her devotion to creating feminist spaces that embrace women in all their complexity. For instance, she describes her displeasure at a feminist conference that banned boys over the age of ten, noting that the conference forced her to choose between her role as a mother and her feminist politics. Lorde also describes her relationship to her own mother, explaining that her mother helped her survive to the best of her ability, but also sometimes failed to provide the emotional openness necessary for a child's well-being. In addition to writing about her own, literal experience as a mother and daughter, Lorde often uses motherhood as a symbol or metaphor. in "Poetry is Not a Luxury," she writes that all people possess an internal "Dark Mother," a personification of the emotional, poetic impulse. In "Eye to Eye: Black Women, Hatred, and Anger," she argues that Black women should treat themselves with the acceptance they once received from their own mothers.
The Insularity of Academia
Lorde's writing reveals a complex relationship with the structure of academia. As a theorist, Lorde is part of the academic structure, and many of the essays in Sister, Outsider are direct transcriptions of Lorde's speeches to feminist academic conferences and gatherings. At the same time, Lorde unflinchingly catalogs the ways in which she is ostracized by a largely-white and deeply racist academy. She often directly addresses her audience of academics when discussing these issues, thus breaking academia's typical code of impersonal, reserved discussion. In this way, Lorde both critiques and disrupts the structure of academic feminism.
