The primary theme of The Mimic Men is the harmful effects of colonialism, especially imperialism. Ralph Singh embodies the paradoxes of colonial rule as a former participant in administering colonial policy. His experiences in context, as he reflects on them from the metropole, show how a colonial system damages those involved at every level.

Closely related is the theme of personal identity transformation and its limits. Related to the title is Homi Bhabha's idea of "mimicry." As an Anglo- Indian, Ralph comes from a colonized heritage. Within the British Empire, living not in India but England and the Caribbean, he identifies with the colonizer. He even changes his first name to sound English. The limits of his remaking, however, are determined by the colonial system, including race and class discrimination. The colonized can mimic, but not become the colonizer.

A third theme is the limited effects of politics. Singh and his friend Browne's involvement in the independence movement changes the outward form but cannot truly change the inward structural problems of society.

One of the book's main themes is rootlessness. Wherever he goes and whatever he does, Singh never feels that he truly belongs anywhere. As an Asian man who's spent his whole life in London or the Caribbean, it's not surprising that Singh feels like a perennial outsider. To a large extent, he's inherited his outsider status from his father, who feels "shipwrecked" on the small Caribbean island of Isabella. Cut off from his ethnic roots, as his son later will be, he's unable to lead anything like a fulfilling existence.

It's instructive that Singh will go on to embrace socialism, a political ideology which advocates the universal brotherhood of man. One could argue that, in its universality, socialism represents the ultimate expression of rootlessness in that it disregards those traditional ties—national, social, religious—that have bound human beings together since time immemorial and rooted them in a particular place. Singh's embrace of socialism gives him a political home, but at the same time reinforces his sense of rootlessness and alienation from colonial society.