Revolution
The author himself has revealed in interviews that the stimulating theme behind the conception of this sequel to The Sympathizer is the idea of what becomes of a revolutionary when he becomes disillusioned with the revolution. The narrator/protagonist has been devoted to a communist revolution but as this book opens he has grown disillusioned with Marxism and ready to turn his back on the good fight. So, the answer to what happens to a revolutionary with a revolution is not just a theme of the novel, but one answer which the story seeks to provide.
Critique of Capitalism
The narrator may have rejected communist ideology as a thing worth fighting for, but that does not mean he is ready to put on a suit and become just another cog in the machinery of capitalism. Nevertheless, that is exactly what happens to him. The irony is that the narrator's introduction into the wonderful world of free enterprise takes place within one of its shadier corners: dealing drugs. Accidentally falling into the criminal underworld of pushing drugs in Paris, his rise up the ladder follows in the traditions of American gangster movies from Little Caesar to Goodfellas in using the capitalist structure of organized crime as a commentary on the dark side of capitalism.
Colonialism
Where this story diverges somewhat from works making the link between capitalism and organized crime is that it takes place in a country with a history of being the colonizer rather than the colonized. The long, sordid history of French colonialism and the racism driving it has inspired multiple works of fiction. It should be noted that America’s controversial war in Vietnam actually originated as a result of French imperialism incursion into Southeast Asia. The protagonist was introduced in The Sympathizer as a North Vietnamese spy funneling information to a corrupt South Vietnamese military officer. That book ends with the protagonist and his brother as refugees aboard a boat escaping Vietnam. Thus, a link is made not only between illegal and legal business opportunities afforded within capitalism, but also examines the complex layering of French racism toward Vietnamese refugees as well as the connection between political oppression and the oppressive nature of drug addiction.
