As a sexual satire, Pinktoes is Himes's most atypical novel, being neither directly autobiographical like his early work, nor a crime novel like his detective fiction. Nevertheless, the protagonist, Mamie Mason, is a recurring character-type in Himes's writing, suggesting an obsessive concern. She appears in Cotton Comes to Harlem (1965) as Mrs. Mabel Hill, the voluptuous young widow. Like Mamie, Mabel is black, ambitious to get ahead, and desirous of white men, hating them at the same time because they frustrate her social ambitions and refuse to recognize her innate superiority over white women.

Himes presents this character-type with a mixture of fascination and contempt, as if understanding the strange allure the races have for each other, while despising them for it. His early writing treats this situation with the utmost seriousness. Pinktoes exaggerates it to the point of self-parody.