The play shows the process through which the colonized internalise so much the values of colonial domination as to give up their own distinct cultural identity and take on the colonisers'. This erasure of identy at the hands of the colonizers is a typical postcolonial theme. The character of Joshua, the play's only black man and Clive's family's servant, is an example of this attitude. Clive's remark that his servant is so good you'd hardly think he was black has a counterpart in Joshua's statement that while his skin is black his soul is really white. Yet, for all his good intentions, Joshua will never succeed in becoming completely white. The play challenges colonial discourse by showing how even Joshua breeds resentment towards the system and event towards his own master whom he apparently adolizes (see the end of act one as the servant points a gun against Clive).

Clive's paternalistic attitude tawards blacks parallels his consideration of women as frail creatures needing to be taken care of. The play thus finds sexism and colonialism to be inextricably linked. This link too is typical of postcolonial feminist writers (see, for example, Jamaica Kincaid's novels).