Précis: Mimicry is the highest form of flattery... err I mean menace

Bhabba's essay on the concept of mimicry in the light of the colonial era takes on a truly contorted form. Bhabba unveils that mimicry's structure is based upon its own ambivalence, founding mimicry not upon its reflection of culture, but the fundamental flaw that actual replication is impossible. Bhabba insists that "[m]imicry repeats rather than re-presents" (88). This suggestion tears any authenticity from the roles portrayed by colonial subjects before they can even make an attempt to mimic. Through the Freudian lens Bhabba applies, the mimicry subjects do perform thus becomes "the representation of a difference," facing tribulations of racial stereotypes (89). Bhabba asserts that the colonial discourse attempts to use mimicry as a basis for advantage in cultural assimilation, but through an analysis of the colonial discourse, the failure was evident from its conception, creating a menace through mimicry.