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
How did Julie do it? She made it sound like she was so upset to be giving the Germans names of people or airfields, but really she didn’t give them the correct name for anything. Maidsend is the only real airfield she mentioned. The account reminds Maddie of the first day she met Julie, when Julie suddenly became a German radio operator. She was so good at pretending. Julie’s account is full of errors. The RAF Maidsend Squadron Leader is actually called Leland North, not Creighton—Creighton is the name of the colonel in Kim. Julie made Maddie read the book, presumably to make Maddie understand that they were being groomed for war (by the Bloody Machiavellian Intelligence Officer, whose real name Julie also knew).
As Maddie reads, she has to conclude that Julie was extraordinarily good at her job and at pretending. While Julie might have pretended for fun earlier in life, Maddie realizes that Julie was playing a very dangerous game as she fabricated information for the Gestapo. Maddie’s aside about Creighton being a character from Kim suggests that Julie wanted to make it clear that she knew she didn’t necessarily become a spy willingly—she was groomed for the job, and much of what happened to her was out of her control. Maddie, though, is able to add important perspective to Julie’s account—mostly because she encourages readers not to take Julie’s account at face value. Julie is truly an unreliable narrator.
Themes
Maddie doesn’t remember the story about Julie’s great-aunt shooting her husband. A lot of their conversations are fudged a little bit, but it’s still eerie. That story makes Maddie think that Julie was saying that it’s okay to shoot her, but it doesn’t make sense. Julie thought Maddie was dead, and she couldn’t have known what was going to happen.
As Maddie reads, Julie’s purpose starts to get a bit fuzzier. Julie did, of course, want to die quickly and humanely, rather than be tortured—but it’s also unclear if Julie knew she was writing specifically for Maddie, or just the Resistance in general.
Themes
Even stranger, though, is that the story is nonsense—but it’s also a true story of Maddie and Julie’s friendship. They both had the same dream at the same time. And even better, when Maddie reads Julie’s words, Julie is alive again. It’s like Julie is flying in a plane that keeps climbing. She’s alive.
