Summary
Cristian visits Dan a final time before Christmas. While Mrs. Van Dorn is out of the room, Cristian sneaks his notebook onto Mr. Van Dorn's desk. Dan gives Cristian two Twinkies and a few collector's stamps as a Christmas gift. He then asks Cristian to read his college essay about Romania. Though he initially agrees to read it, Cristian then claims to be sick, trying to get out of reading it so he doesn't have to report on it to the Secu. Dan reveals that he will not be returning to Romania after Christmas.
Though Bunu is dead and Dan is leaving for America, Cristian is brought in to report to the Secu. He lies and says that the new American ambassador is "aggressive" and wants to make "changes" to Romania. The interviewing agent then reveals he knows about the Bruce Springsteen magazine article, suggesting the Secu has snooped in Cristian's closet. The agent then makes an insinuating comment that Cristian's mother might be having an affair with Mr. Van Dorn. At home, Cici gives Cristian a warm quilted shirt. During their exchange, Cristian sees Liliana and Luca talking and becomes jealous and nervous about Liliana's safety. He also realizes that Mrs. Drucan passed away, though her final moments were peaceful, and her daughter intends to return to Boston in a few days.
On the radio, Cristian and his family hear reports of a revolution in nearby Timișoara. Cristian is inspired to join the protestors, but his parents and sister are afraid. In school, Cristian is surprised that no students share his revolutionary spirit except Luca. United in their desire to join the cause, Luca and Cristian make plans to share information and travel to Timișoara, if necessary. That night, the radio broadcasts audio of Romanian citizens being murdered by soldiers and the news that Ceauşescu left the country for Iran.
Cristian makes a deal to buy American papers from Starfish, who claims to have been friends with Bunu. Since Starfish will only accept foreign currency in exchange for his contraband, Cristian opens Cici's box to retrieve his American dollar. Inside the box, he finds stacks of foreign currency and his Bruce Springsteen article, suggesting Cici was working with the Securiate and informing on Cristian. Cristian visits Luca and covertly tells him about this development, apologizing for assuming Luca was the informer.
Back in the closet of his apartment, Luca reads the papers from Starfish, a crumpled set of documents from Amnesty International recording "the persistent pattern of human rights abuse in Romania in the 1980s." Cristian then decides to follow Cici and discovers her carousing with Agent Paddle Hands in a car. Cristian confronts Cici, who explains that she got involved with the Securiate for the same reason Cristian did: to save Bunu. However, the Securiate convinced Cici to try and seduce Mr. Van Dorn and Alex Pavel. Cristian curses Cici, claiming she "killed Bunu," and then leaves before she can finish explaining herself.
On his way home, Luca intercepts Cristian, who invites him to a rally in Palace Square, where Ceauşescu and Mother Elena are speaking. Ceauşescu's propaganda and promises are drowned out by an explosion and then jeering from the crowd. Luca and Cristian join in, and after Ceauşescu is booed off the stage, a student takes over and invites the crowd to join the revolution, which at that point is nonviolent.
Cristian and Luca join Adrian, a university student, leading the protest. Cristian cuts up a Romanian flag and leads a march to the University Square, where thousands of protestors, including elderly people and children, join together. Cristian confronts a nervous young soldier, who encourages Cristian and Luca to leave the square and asks for a cigarette. Cristian refuses to leave, but quickly, the soldiers open fire on the crowd; Luca is shot twice. Nameless voices identify Cristian and hit him in the back of the head. He loses consciousness before he can ascertain Luca's fate.
Cristian awakens in a holding cell full of people from the square, including children. The room bears signs of torture, like "a pool of blood" on the floor and a "patch of hair, still attached to a piece of scalp." Soldiers frisk the captives and paint their hands green, though thankfully, they do not find the Amnesty International papers in Cristian's pocket. The guards then beat each prisoner, including the elderly and children. When it is Cristian's turn to be tortured, the guards laugh and say he is on a "special list" to receive additional torture. They bring out a starving dog to attack Cristian. However, Cristian feels pity for the dog, which he believes is "a prisoner, too," and the dog turns on the soldiers instead.
The guards then corral the protestors into a van headed to Jilava, a high security, inhumane prison. Cristian plans to escape, but when he sees Liliana in the van, he goes with her. In the van, the victims discuss the protests throughout the country incited by the violence in Bucharest. Liliana declares her identity to the van, asking her comrades to tell her family her fate if any of them survive.
Analysis
After Bunu's death, Cristian communicates with Bunu, whispering to him and "mentally continuing" their conversations about revolution and freedom. Cristian asks for Bunu's advice, tells him jokes at the expense of the Romanian government, and shares news about the protests in Timișoara. Cristian's communications with Bunu's spirit contribute to the theme of memory. Bunu was Cristian's inspiration and intellectual mentor. After his death, Cristian keeps Bunu's memory alive and active by fostering a spiritual connection with him. Cristian also honors Bunu's memory by participating in protests and enduring torture, thinking about his grandfather as a source of pride and hope during challenging moments.
In an example of situational irony, Cristian learns that his beloved sister, Cici, was the actual informer. This plot twist is even more ironic as Cristian never suspected Cici and confided his most personal secrets to her despite Bunu's insistence that he "trust no one." Though Cristian condemns Cici, claiming her actions "killed Bunu," Cristian performed a similar role in service to the Secu. His anger is hypocritical. Additionally, Cici suffered sexual exploitation and degradation. At the beginning of the text, Cici and Cristian discuss the dehumanizing gynecological exams and restrictions on women's reproductive freedom to increase Romania's worker population. Just as the regime controls and exploits women's sexuality, the Secu forces Cici to use her sexuality to gain information and exchange sexual favors for resources and privileges.
When Cristian joins the protest, he grabs a Romanian flag and cuts "the communist coat of arms from the center, leaving a hole amidst the vertical stripes of blue, yellow, and red." Each color represents a different value: "Blue for liberty. Yellow for justice. Red for blood." The flag symbolizes the consequences of the Romanian people's fight for resistance; by removing the coat of arms, Cristian damages the flag. Still, he is left with a symbol of his independent nation. Similarly, when rising up against Nicolae Ceaușescu, the protestors endure violence, including torture and execution. Just as Cristian is left with a tattered yet meaningful and hard-won flag, the Romanian people inherit a nation damaged socially and economically by communism.
When Cristian is arrested, the novel describes the torture he and his fellow protestors endure with gruesome, blunt imagery. These descriptions illustrate the theme of dehumanization. The soldiers enjoy torturing the protestors, no longer seeing them as fellow citizens or even human beings. The torture scenes also connect to the descriptions of human rights abuses documented in the Amnesty International reports, adding an emotional layer to the technical documents. As he endures dehumanizing abuse, Cristian focuses his thoughts on his loved ones, repeating the phrase "hold on, Luca" in his mind and punctuating each blow with someone or something he loves, like Bunu, Luca, and Romania. Keeping others in his mind allows Cristian to resist the emotional and psychological toll of the soldiers' dehumanizing treatment.
Wild dogs symbolize how oppression and desperation cause people to be "twisted into madness" and commit acts of evil. When the soldiers turn feral dogs on Cristian, he connects with the dogs emotionally, seeing himself in them. He recognizes that the dog is "a prisoner too—denied food, shelter, and security. Beaten and driven to a state of desperation and savagery." When Cristian feels this empathy and cries, the dog calms and turns on the soldier, directing its anger toward its abuser. Thus, Cristian, the Romanian people, and the dogs follow parallel journeys. At the beginning of the text, Cristian, his friends, family, and fellow Romanians feel forced to inform on and harm one another to survive, just as the dogs feel compelled to attack prisoners. However, when the Romanian people learn about other nations rising up against the Soviet Union, they attempt to overthrow the regime, just as the dogs attack the soldiers after connecting with Cristian.
