I Must Betray You

Reflect on the title of the novel—I Must Betray You—and perform a deep analysis on why Sepetys chose to call Cristian’s and his family’s story by this name. As you reflect, consider the following questions:

• Who does the “I” refer to? Is it Cristian alone or multiple characters?
• What effect does the word “must” have in the title? Play around with inputting different words here—how would the title be different if “can” or “will” were plugged in instead?
• Who is being “betrayed”? Again, is it one person or multiple individuals?
• How does the title support the book’s overall themes? Does it emphasize certain messaging?

Teaching Suggestion: On a surface level, the title is written in the same first-person perspective as the rest of the novel. However, the “I” could be any of the main characters in the book, given that all of them, from Cristian to Starfish, are forced to participate in duplicitous behavior, given the nature of the Romanian communist regime. The “must” in the title emphasizes how little choice Cristian and the rest of the main characters had in the novel; due to the life-or-death circumstances, the characters had no choice but to, at times, betray those closest to each other.