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
Today was another Sunday dinner with Nazis, so Maddie went out with Paul on bicycles (the Thibauts told the Nazis that Käthe has fallen in love with Paul and was out on a date). In reality, Paul took Maddie to another house to work on making bombs and shooting guns. The man who helped told Maddie that she was born to be a soldier, which made Maddie feel proud. But now she scoffs, since she just likes to fly planes and make things work.
Again, the cover story of Paul and Maddie being in love essentially uses Maddie’s femininity as cover. This provides the excuse Maddie needs to learn these other skills, which she implies throughout the narrative are usually skills that men have, not women.
Themes
As Käthe, Maddie is going to have a job in the next few days. She’ll be delivering the message-slash-invitation to Engel. Käthe isn’t local and won’t be here much longer, so she’s a good option. Earlier today, Maddie got a look at Engel, who drives for the Gestapo. She and Paul had closed the gate to the Thibauts’ farm so that Paul would have an opportunity to “help” Engel open the gate. He, of course, touched her and made her angry, but Maddie got a good look at her. She’s a plain woman but would be gorgeous in a red cocktail dress (now Maddie sounds like Julie).
Maddie’s love for Julie helps her feel brave about meeting up with Engel later, which could be very dangerous for Maddie. When Maddie notes that she sounds like Julie, she’s not wrong—after all, one of Julie’s tongue-in-cheek prescriptions for Engel was a red cocktail dress. So, Maddie might believe that she and Julie don’t actually have much in common except their friendship, but they think more alike than Maddie realizes.
Themes
Maddie also got to see the Gestapo captain. She gaped a bit at the man who’s been interrogating Julie and, if he hasn’t already, will be the one to order her execution. He looked normal, like a headmaster. He also seemed exhausted and worried. Now, Maddie knows that he looked like this because something fishy happened to the Ormaie Gestapo. According to Engel, a set of keys went missing for an hour and turned up in the wrong place. Tomorrow, the captain will have to go talk to Ferber, who is apparently terrifying. Maddie thinks the captain should tell Engel to be quiet, but hopefully they can either blackmail her or get her to work with them. Maddie definitely won’t sleep tonight.
It’s ironic that Maddie thinks von Linden looks like a headmaster—that is, after all, exactly what he was before the war. Maddie’s observation that someone should tell Engel to be quiet is interesting, since this information is helping the Resistance figure out how to fight back—Engel speaking up is exactly what they want. Learning that Ferber is so terrifying (seemingly more so than von Linden) makes Ferber’s memo to von Linden at the end of Part One even more sinister.
Themes
