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
ATA “S” Chits (Secret). At first, not much changed for Maddie. Six weeks after her meeting with the intelligence officer, she started getting assignments twice per week. The only way these runs differed was that the passengers weren’t pilots. Otherwise, the work was boring and normal—until one September night when Maddie was called out of bed. She flew a Puss Moth south to the Special Operations airfield and waited while the ground crew helped a passenger in. The flight was silent and unremarkable, but when Maddie landed and shut the plane down, the passenger leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek—it was Queenie. Queenie said she was on her first assignment, and Maddie would take her home later. Then, she disappeared.
Part of Maddie’s job is ignoring her passengers and not trying to figure out who they are. So it shows how seriously Maddie takes her work when she doesn’t even notice that her best friend is riding in her plane. But ferrying Queenie around calls into question what exactly Queenie/the narrator is doing at this point—it’s clearly something secret that’s associated with Special Operations, but that’s as much as the narrator reveals. Obscuring what her job is at this point in time may be a way to keep von Linden’s interest for a bit longer, assuming he, too, gets swept up in the mystery.
Themes
Maddie took a nap in the Cottage, but she woke up when the loud Lysanders returned from France with American airmen, French ministers, champagne, and bottles of Chanel No. 5. Maddie only found out about the perfume the next morning, during the champagne “Welcome-to-Freedom” breakfast. The narrator remarks that it’s funny: England at this time was nothing but bombs, blackouts, and rules. But it was free, unlike France, where nobody could trust their neighbors.
The narrator suggests that France and England are two entirely different worlds. England isn’t great by any means—life is still scary—but it’s not nearly as frightening or isolating as France is. This is a roundabout way of criticizing the Nazis, as it’s the Nazis’ occupation of France that creates this environment of fear and paranoia.
Themes
Now, the narrator has to talk about herself before Ormaie. She wants to write about flying in the moonlight instead. Last night, she dreamed she was flying with Maddie by the light of a green moon. These days, the narrator is writing all the time and wishing the Gestapo would give up on the French girl, who’s never going to speak.
Here, the narrator as much as confirms that telling Maddie’s story is something that benefits her. It helps her feel better and more connected to her friend—and it helps her ignore the horrible atrocities going on around her, such as the Gestapo interrogating the French girl.
Themes
Earlier this morning, the narrator writes, she was pushed into her little chamber. Engel was at the table, numbering recipe cards, and the narrator scared her by addressing her in an authoritative German voice. Engel smacked the narrator for that. It was hilarious, but it really only seems to have spurred Engel and Thibaut to flirt. Also, the narrator knows something is going on, because the Gestapo are being unusually relentless with their other prisoners. Maybe von Linden’s boss, SS-Sturmbannführer Ferber, might be visiting soon. The narrator is struggling to think; she’s faint and hungry. To try to organize her thoughts, the narrator draws a table listing the flights she took with Maddie.
The narrator is trying to grab at any opportunities to gain power over her captors. Tormenting Engel doesn’t do much in the long run—but for the narrator, it’s worth it to feel powerful for just a moment. At the end of this passage, the narrator highlights just how powerless she is when she notes how hungry she is (since she’s a prisoner, it’s her captors’ fault that she’s hungry). And writing the table of flights seems to be a way for the narrator to attempt to organize her scrambled thoughts—again, the pressure and exhaustion are getting to her.
Themes
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RAF Special Duties, Operational Cross-Country. Back in the narrator’s story, it was April, and Maddie and the narrator headed to the secret airfield that the Moon Squadron used to fly to France. Jamie was stationed there, and he and the pilots invited Maddie to supper (meanwhile, Queenie’s admirers whisked her away). On this night, two Lysanders were flying to France together, and a new squadron member, Michael, was going to follow them part of the way—this was his first training flight to France. He was nervous, but Maddie unsympathetically told him he’d had all the training and it would be easy. Jamie suggested that Michael take Maddie along. After some arguing among the pilots and agents, they agreed that she could go.
Getting to join the pilots for supper again makes Maddie feel like she belongs and is just another pilot. Maddie sets herself apart, though, when she scolds Michael for being silly and worrying about this training flight. To Maddie, the flight should be easy: Michael doesn’t have to do anything dangerous, he just has to get the plane to France and back. That sort of thing doesn’t scare her. Letting Maddie join Michael on the flight no doubt makes Maddie feel included—but it may also persuade Michael to stop complaining and do his job.
Themes
Maddie was thrilled. From the back of Michael’s Lysander, she got to enjoy the view. Still, over the Channel, she reminded Michael that he wasn’t supposed to follow the other two planes all the way—he was supposed to turn south. He thanked her and called her “mate,” which made Maddie feel like she belonged. France was just as blacked out as England, but it was so lovely that it made Maddie cry.
Though Maddie is just along for the fun of it, she’s still a helpful passenger and helps Michael navigate the correct flight path. The flight itself encapsulates the idea that war is both horrifying and beautiful: France is beautiful enough to make Maddie cry, but some of her tears are because France is occupied by the Nazis.
Themes
Suddenly, Maddie gasped: ahead was a rectangle of light. Michael circled, and they realized the place was probably a prison camp. He offered Maddie the map to make sure they were in the right place, and they were. As they turned back for England, Michael said that Jamie was picking up some Parisian agents that night. Then, he said he was glad Maddie came—the prison camp was disturbing. When they landed, the squadron leader laughed at Michael when Michael said the prison camp frightened him. Michael went to bed whistling “The Last Time I Saw Paris.”
Letting Maddie check the map is another way that Michael makes Maddie feel included and valuable; he trusts her navigating abilities. Michael also implies that he really just needed a friend to come along with him tonight—especially given the surprise of seeing the prison camp and knowing that so many people are suffering down below. Having another person around makes that kind of trauma easier to bear.
Themes
Debriefing. Maddie crawled into bed around 4 a.m. and lit a candle for Queenie, who wasn’t in yet. Maddie was still awake when Queenie came in an hour and a half later and flipped on the light. Queenie looked different: her hair was slicked back into an unflattering bun, and she wore harsh, unflattering makeup. Then, ignoring Maddie, Queenie took off her blouse—and her arm, neck, and shoulders were covered in purple bruises. Someone had tried to choke her. Moving carefully, Queenie put on her pajamas and then wrenched hairpins out of her hair and scrubbed off her lipstick.
This was a fantastic night for Maddie—but Queenie doesn’t look like she’s had the same experience. Indeed, Queenie seems totally caught up in her own world and unaware that Maddie is even in the room, as though she’s trying to process a traumatic experience.
Themes
Finally noticing Maddie, Queenie said the bruises didn’t hurt; tonight was hard work. Maddie shared that she went to France and then said that when Queenie walked in, she looked like a German spy. Finally, Maddie asked what kind of translating Queenie did. Queenie said she didn’t translate—she was an interrogator. At this, the narrator addresses von Linden. She notes that they both do the same work and are both good at it. On the job, the narrator goes by Eva Seiler. Her first assignment resulted in the narrator catching a double agent. It was easy; she threw herself on him when he arrived on the transport flight.
Queenie’s experiences show that even Maddie has been underestimating her for much of the war. Queenie/the narrator is doing things that are far more complex, and far more dangerous, than just translating. It also appears that the narrator uses her femininity to get information from people—so she has a job not usually given to women, but it’s her femininity that makes her good at her job. This big reveal allows the narrator to tell von Linden that really, the two of them aren’t so different.
Themes
On the night she wound up with the bruises, though, the man she was interrogating didn’t believe her. The unbound man gripped Queenie’s head and instructed her to call for help. There were, of course, people watching, but they saw that Queenie was in control and let her win the battle on her own. She did eventually win, and her “nerves of steel” landed her where she is now. Her colleagues didn’t notice that she made the mistake of forgetting to change her hair and makeup when she changed back into her WAAF uniform.
The narrator makes the case that she’s normally good at her job—but she is human. She can go through experiences that scare her, and she can make mistakes. It’s unclear why the narrator’s colleagues in this passage don’t notice the mistakes (which is a mistake on their part). But noting that they all make mistakes suggests that perhaps having “nerves of steel” isn’t enough to guarantee Queenie and her colleagues’ success.
Themes
Maddie invited Queenie to climb into bed with her and wrapped her arms around her friend. Queenie whispered that unlike Maddie’s job, her job wasn’t blameless. Queenie sobbed, and eventually, Maddie fell asleep holding her.
For Queenie, interrogating Nazis is emotionally taxing—she’s responsible for imprisoning them, similar to the way the narrator is imprisoned now. But Maddie is still able to comfort her friend and make this somewhat easier for her.
Themes
Now, the narrator is copying down “Auld Lang Syne.” She’s exhausted since she’s been writing all night, and von Linden is still torturing the French girl. She likes writing about Maddie, but she’s too tired to keep going. The “bastard” watching her touches his cigarette to her neck every time she stretches. So, since he can’t read English, she’s just covering the page in Robert Burns lines. But this makes her think of “those pictures”—and of Maddie.
“Auld Lang Syne” is a famous poem by Scottish poet Robert Burns, which has been set to music and is commonly sung on New Year’s Eve—but also at funerals. The narrator seems to be struggling to carry on, so copying “Auld Lang Syne” may be another way for the narrator to say that she’s coming to terms with her impending death.
Themes
