Red Planet stresses the danger of allowing initial impressions to control one's opinions of others. Heinlein relates the colonists' attitudes and situation to those of past pioneers and revolutionaries, and refers to historical episodes in which the inability or unwillingness to understand other cultures proved harmful.

There is violence in this book, much of it performed by two young boys.

Throughout, however, Heinlein is careful to examine the motives that spark dramatic action. Jim rebels because the headmaster does not treat Willis as an intelligent being; the colonists rebel because the Company does not treat them as intelligent beings. There are clearcut moral standards, upheld by characters such as Doc MacRae; those who resort to prejudice as a result of greed and self-interest are shown to suffer in the end.