Memory
Memory is one of the central themes in the text, as the characters suffer the impacts of a dictatorship's attempt to "create a man without a memory." Memory is used throughout the text as a tool for both oppression and resistance. The regime attempts to control the Romanian people by dismantling collective memory, teaching abridged versions of history and forbidding citizens from engaging with materials that question the national image Ceaușescu projects. Cristian's parents' generation silently accepts oppression to survive, as they do not remember the world before Ceaușescu but do remember the atrocities he committed while ascending to power. However, as Bunu argues, the older and younger generations resist authority, as the older generation remembers life before Ceaușescu, and the younger generation knows enough about the outside world to hope for a better future. Cristian ensures the Romanian people's struggles will be remembered by documenting his feelings and experiences in his notebook.
The Secu collects thousands of pages of information on Romanian families, yet attempts to destroy the records after the revolution, denying accountability and evading punishment as they recognize the power of memory. Though uncovering the past is painful, Cristian understands the value of learning and remembering the truth. He reads his family's record and writes a manuscript about the events leading up to the revolution, ensuring his people's history will not be forgotten.
Surveillance
Ceaușescu's regime creates an atmosphere of constant surveillance to control the Romanian people. Private spaces, like bedrooms and bathrooms, are bugged, and citizen networks of spies make even close family relationships dangerous. Different characters navigate surveillance in different ways. Cristian's father retreats into silence, Cici and Cristian attempt to work as double agents, and Bunum ignores surveillance as a form of protest. In the novel, the threat of constant surveillance creates a tense mood and calls every interaction into question.
Dehumanization
To maintain his power, Ceaușescu employs violence and creates inhumane living conditions to dehumanize his subjects, compelling them to accept mistreatment to survive. Secu agents blackmail children and elderly people, and women are denied reproductive agency so as to increase the population. During the revolution, soldiers torture and murder protestors, all of whom suffered decades of starvation, surveillance, and numbness. As Bunu argues, feeling emotions is the "essence" of being human; by creating a nation that disrespects human rights and dignity, the dictatorship dehumanized the Romanian people as a tool for control and exploitation.
Isolation
Under Ceaușescu, Romania is isolated from the rest of the world, and Romanians are separated from one another. Ceaușescu forbids Romanian citizens from consuming foreign media or interacting with foreigners and uses propaganda to skew the population's view of the outside world and the extent of their own mistreatment. Because of widespread surveillance, the people of Bucharest cannot trust one another and live in social and emotional isolation. Only when Cristian and his fellow Romanians challenge this isolation by listening to the news or creating authentic relationships do they gain the courage to overthrow the regime.
Betrayal
I Must Betray You takes a nuanced look at the idea of betrayal. Over the course of the narrative, characters are forced to make impossible choices that often involve betraying loved ones to ensure safety and survival. The text's inciting incident comes when Cristian is blackmailed into informing on his friend, Dan Van Dorn, and morally justifies this betrayal as he is promised life-saving medicine in exchange for information. Cristian feels his sister, Cici, betrays him by working as an informer to the Secu and suspects Luca and Liliana of betraying him to the authorities. In a complex web of betrayal, Liliana also suspects Cristian of informing on her, and Cristian's mother reports on the entire family. Ultimately, the greatest betrayal comes when Cristian realizes Ceaușescu deprived and exploited the Romanian people for personal gain.
Deception
In I Must Betray You, deception is used as both a survival strategy and a form of violence. Characters like Cristian, Cici, and the Van Dorns hide their true intentions and feelings to protect themselves and their loved ones and attempt to use deception to undermine the regime. Cici and Cristian both use their position as informers to try and undermine the regime; Cici successfully works as a double agent for the Americans until she is discovered and murdered. Most prominently, though Ceaușescu deceives the Romanian people and foreign governments into permitting human rights violations. Ceaușescu projects an image of competence and progressive idealism to the outside world, while in Romania, he uses strict censorship laws, propaganda, and surveillance to deceive the Romanian people into accepting their oppressive circumstances.
Resistance and Compliance
To survive under the regime, characters must alternately resist and comply with authority depending on the situation. Cristian and his friends begin with subtle acts of resistance, enjoying contraband products like Coca-Cola and chocolate and gathering to watch exciting movies about the outside world. Cristian and his grandfather circumvent censorship by making jokes at the regime's expense and learning about philosophy, their education an act of profound resistance. Trusting others and writing down his experiences is how Cristian resists the dictatorship's psychological control.
However, as the Soviet Union begins to fall, Cristian must comply with authority to protect himself and continue the revolution. As an informer for the Secu, he resists as he concedes, feeding the Secu agent false information and gathering data about him. Cristian slips Mr. Van Dorn his notebook while spying and joins the revolution in Bucharest. As a prisoner, Cristian submits to torture, knowing his compliance will save his life and the lives of others. Thus, throughout the text, both resistance and compliance become opportunities for bravery.
