The Qaddafi regime was truly terrifying.
It seems from the novel that even as early as 1979, the Qaddafi regime was already committing atrocities against their own people. The story outlines the extreme lengths the government would go to just to keep power and to eliminate undesirables, especially men with democratic sentiments.
Democracy is the enemy of dictatorship.
This doesn't mean that democracy is inherently superior, or that capitalism is inherently superior, but the novel makes this issue perfectly plain: Qaddafi's greatest fear was citizens with Western-leaning political views. He treated democracy as the enemy of his regime.
Oppression is complex and difficult.
The saddest moment of the novel comes when Suleiman accidentally (or purposefully) betrays his own interests. He does this not because he wants to invite more problems with the government, but because he feels hopeless, and he can't handle the weight of the secrets. This is an indication of a broader theme from the novel, that oppressed societies are often fractured, because it isn't always clear what the right move should be.
