Major Themes
The puzzle game Pentominos features in a prominent subplot of the novel.
The book offers socially liberal ideas about sexuality and racial attitudes. For example, Duncan Makenzie is black. This is not mentioned until approximately halfway through the book; his race is no more significant to him than his hair color. At several points Makenzie also reminisces about sexual affairs with males, and that bisexuality is now considered the norm. Exclusive heterosexuality or homosexuality is not generally practiced.
Clarke describes in great detail throughout the book a personal communications device called a 'minisec' combining mobile video phone and PDA with global data connectivity. He also describes a larger desk 'comsole' or communications console giving similar access to global information services.
However, the major theme of the novel is the nature of change and transition. For Titan it stands on a precipice of transition; it can either fall into the past with the demise of hydrogen and become "decadent" like Earth or become the beginning of a new and uncertain frontier. Karl is obsessed with preserving the past in his relationships and Duncan himself is the preservation of his grandfather, which Duncan ultimately ends with the cloning of Karl.
Read more about this topic: Imperial Earth
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