Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Code Name Verity, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Friendship
War, Women, and Gender Roles
The Horrors of War
Resistance and Courage
Storytelling
Summary
Analysis
The narrator writes that Engel skipped over the last several paragraphs she wrote last night, probably to save herself from being punished for being such a “chatterbox.” In addition to an extra week of writing time, the narrator has also been given more paper: sheet music for flute and piano. The sheet music’s original Jewish owner wrote her name at the top of each page.
Engel is, of course, trying to protect herself by censoring the narrator’s writing. But it also seems possible that the two women are coming to an understanding and are becoming more sympathetic to each other. Writing on flute music that belonged to a Jewish musician again makes it impossible to ignore the toll of the war—this Jewish woman was most likely killed in the Holocaust.
Themes
Wartime Administrative Formalities. The narrator is writing quickly now—she can’t write fast enough. Back in Maddie’s story, Maddie was, unbeknownst to her, being groomed by the SOE. Jamie started flying again, and Maddie took a course on night flying. Night flying, and then the parachute course they had her do, seemed senseless at this point in 1942, but that wasn’t unusual. What was unusual was that when Maddie was asked to be the second pilot on a plane training parachuters, one of them was the narrator. Maddie had some idea of who the narrator and her fellow trainees were, though they weren’t allowed to speak to each other. The female parachuters had to jump first each time, perhaps because they weren’t considered as likely to survive.
While the narrator notes many times throughout her narrative that she was chosen for her job, she generally portrays Maddie as having a choice in the matter. But here, saying that the SOE was “grooming” Maddie suggests that Maddie might not have had much of a choice, either. And it makes Maddie seem even more powerless when the narrator notes how ridiculous a lot of Maddie’s training initially looked. But the implication is that Maddie didn’t have a choice but to participate. Still, though, serving in World War II experience sexism as their capabilities are doubted.
Themes
The narrator got to watch Maddie fly during these jumps, and she envied Maddie. All Maddie had to do was fly the plane—there were no moral questions for her, and she chose to fly planes. The narrator was, instead, chosen for her job.
For the narrator, it seems as though Maddie has more power than she does because Maddie chose to fly planes, whereas the narrator was recruited. The narrator implies that her job, unlike Maddie’s, has forced her to do things that violate her morals.
Themes
Once, when Maddie was assigned to deliver a Hudson (a big plane used by the Moon Squadron) to RAF Special Duties, she slammed the tail into the ground on landing. Then, in the office, someone asked Maddie to go to the debriefing room in The Cottage alone. Was Maddie being court-martialed? It seemed unlikely, but The Cottage was extremely foreboding and intimidating—and the intelligence officer was there.
Maddie goes into this meeting in The Cottage expecting that because she’s female and made a mistake hitting the plane’s tail upon landing, she’s going to get in huge trouble. This introduces the idea that as a woman, Maddie has to try much harder than her male colleagues to look successful and competent—and she fears that she’ll be punished more severely when things do go wrong.
Themes
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The intelligence officer assured Maddie she wasn’t in trouble and said he had a job for her. Maddie initially recoiled, but the officer told her it was air taxi work. She would get assignments at short notice to ferry people around, and she wouldn’t know who they were. He said that Maddie was suited for the work, since she was discreet and a great pilot. Maddie agreed to do it. Then, the officer instructed Maddie to tell her copilot that this meeting was so that he could give Maddie back her clothing ration coupons that she forgot last time—and he produced them from a folder. She had no idea how he got them. The narrator apologizes for crying so much and smearing the ink.
The intelligence officer wants Maddie to take on this work because she’s good at her job and he believes she can do it—sentiments that are no doubt nice for Maddie to hear. However, he managed to steal her clothing ration coupons in order to cover up this meeting, which makes Maddie feel less secure and as though she’s being watched—so this meeting makes her feel simultaneously more powerful and less powerful. And it’s unclear why the narrator is crying so much at this point—it’s impossible to know, for instance, what she’s experiencing that she’s not writing about.
Themes
