Summary
Seventeen-year-old Cristian Florescu attends high school in Bucharest, Romania, in 1989. Along with his parents, sister, and ill grandfather, Cristian struggles to survive in the cold, gray surveillance state. He studies English primarily to get close to Liliana Pavel, a classmate to whom he is romantically attracted, but also because his grandfather encourages him to study philosophy. One day at school, Cristian is called to the principal's office to speak with an agent of the Securiate, Romania's citizen spy network. The agent accuses Cristian of accepting foreign currency when he gave an American friend a postage stamp—a punishable crime in Romania. The agent then offers Cristian lenience and medicine for his grandfather's leukemia if Crisitan consents to spy on an American diplomat family, the Van Dorns, for whom Cristian's mother works as a cleaner. Seeing no other option, Cristian consents, though he feels morally conflicted.
Walking home and contemplating his unwinnable position, Cristian meets Liliana, and the two share a flirtatious conversation. They are interrupted when they see a group of wild dogs attack a girl; they intervene, saving the girl. Though physically injured, the girl mainly worries that her mother will be upset with her for ruining her coat, as supplies are scarce in Bucharest. When Cristian returns to his family's tiny apartment, his grandfather suffers a coughing and retching fit as his leukemia worsens. Cristian looks for Kent cigarettes, an informal currency, to pay for medical treatment. Finding insufficient funds, he affirms that becoming an informer is the strategic move to ensure his family's survival. He also mistakenly believes he can use his position to spy on the Securiate and make a difference.
Starfish, the local contraband dealer, invites Liliana and Cristian to a movie night. The two accept, though viewing Western movies is illegal, and the contraband movies are grainy and poorly dubbed. Starfish asks Cristian to invite his sister, Cici, an attractive, intelligent, and fun seamstress. Cristian comforts Cici, who suffered a highly invasive gynecological exam by the "baby police." The exams are routine to encourage fertility, as "Ceauşescu wanted to increase the population, to breed more workers." Traumatized by her experiences and taking on extra work to pay for everyday expenses, Cici does not accompany her brother to the movie night.
After taking a cold shower, Cristian meets Liliana for the movie, and the two share a contraband Coca-Cola. Though they converse secretly, their movements are tracked and reported. Cristian reveals an embarrassing secret: because he always wanted to try a banana, he once drank illegal banana-scented shampoo. The two then arrive late to the movie, which is a grainy, poorly dubbed, and censored version of Die Hard. Though police frequently raid movie nights, the room is packed with teenagers hoping to find a little joy amidst their dismal circumstances. Liliana and Cristian speculate whether the lives they see on screen are accurate and are captivated by the idea that the characters have choices and control over their lives.
Cristian visits Dan Van Dorn, the son of an American diplomat father and a Spanish mother. Though Dan lives in wealth and privilege, enjoying books and music that are illegal for Romanians, he also lives under constant surveillance. Dan indicates to Cristian that his home is bugged by gesturing to the light fixture and praising the Romanian government. Cristian attempts to get information about Dan's family, reading Dan's notes on Romania and memorizing facts about him, like that his godfather is a wealthy oil baron. When Cristian walks his mother home, she warns him not to ask questions and defends Dan's father, claiming he is a "good man." Back in the apartment, Cristian gives Cici his American dollar in exchange for chocolate to give Liliana as a present. Bunu overhears and warns Cristian about indoctrination and the dangers of trusting others.
Analysis
I Must Betray You opens with a poetic excerpt entitled "Beneath The Gilded Frame," or "Sub Rama Poleită" in Romanian. This excerpt introduces the themes of memory and surveillance while simultaneously establishing the novel's tone and mood. Describing the "darkest darkness" of the Romanian surveillance state, the introduction creates a sense of tension, secrecy, and fear. "Beneath The Gilded Frame" also compares Nicolae Ceaușescu to Dracula, the famous Romanian vampire, explaining how Ceaușescu, like Dracula, wreaked havoc on common people from the comfort of wealth and privilege. The excerpt's title, "Beneath The Gilded Frame," describes the false image Ceaușescu presented to the outside world. Just as a gilded object deceptively appears golden, Ceaușescu hid his exploitation of the Romanian people by deploying propaganda and maintaining political relationships with Western powers, convincing the outside world that Romania was a prosperous, progressive nation when actuality, the Romanian people suffered severe deprivation and human rights violations.
The novel uses synecdoche and code names to refer to different characters, such as Nicolae Ceaușescu and the agent to whom Cristian reports. For example, Cristian calls Ceaușescu "Draculescu" and "Him," and calls the agent he reports to "Agent Paddle Hands." These different names reveal distinct traits of each character and contribute to the theme of surveillance. Because characters are unable to speak freely for fear of punishment, using code names helps Cristian and his friends express their realities and struggles. The specific names Cristian uses are symbolically significant. The title "Draculescu" uses an allusion to the classic Romanian villain Dracula to emphasize Ceaușescu's cruelty. Cristian never learns his agent's real name, so he names him based on his most distinctive physical trait, his disproportionately large hands. This reduction of the agent to a physical feature emphasizes how the Romanian surveillance state required anonymity and secrecy to maintain deception and power.
The most frequent example of the renaming motif is the code names assigned to each character in the Secu reports. Interspersed throughout the texts are copies of Agent Paddle Hands' write-ups of his meetings with Cristian and other informers. The Secu reports, rendered in a typewriter font and a consistent format, are a motif used throughout the text to create a sense of dramatic irony. As Cristian attempts to work against Agent Paddle Hands, the reports reveal that he sees through Cristian's deceptions. In these reports, Cristian is renamed OSCAR, his mother is renamed MARIA, and Nicholas Van Dorn is VAIDA. These naming conventions illustrate the themes of dehumanization and dignity. The Secu dehumanizes the informers not only by blackmailing them but also by assigning them new identities.
Crisitan frequently cites a travelogue about Eastern Europe to try and understand how the rest of the world sees Romania. This motif highlights the theme of deception. Historically, Nicolae Ceaușescu used propaganda and political relationships to deceive world leaders into believing that Romania was a prosperous, progressive nation distinct from other Soviet states. As Cristian's story indicates, Ceaușescu's illusion created a profound sense of disconnection and disillusionment for the Romanian people, who believed the West either knew about conditions in Romania and didn't care, or that Romania's conditions were common. However, the travelogues reveal to Cristian that outsiders who experience Romania consider it dangerous and grim.
American pop culture and products referenced throughout the text to convey the characters' fascination with the outside world, the depths of their oppression, and their understanding of freedom. Living under an oppressive communist dictatorship, Cristian and his peers romanticize and idealize Western, capitalist nations, primarily America. In secret, they enjoy symbols of American consumerism, such as Coca-Cola, Hollywood movies, Twinkies, and pop music. Just as Western nations were ignorant about the conditions in Romania, Cristian and his friends reduce the idea of "freedom" to stereotyped products. Though these symbols of American identity are simplistic and often poor imitations, they are still extremely valuable. By enjoying contraband, forbidden items, the Romanian characters engage with ideas and experiences outside of what the regime allows, prompting them to consider ways their lives could be different and encouraging them to resist oppression. Cristian and his friends also feel empowered by finding joy in illegal activities, a form of resistance.
