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
Etienne’s little notebook is almost full; Maddie is running out of paper. She’s pretty sure she knows what she’s going to do with these accounts, so like Julie, she’s not going to give the Machiavellian Intelligence Officer’s name. She’s going to call him John Balliol, after the king William Wallace died defending.
Continuing to refer to the intelligence officer by a pseudonym (and naming him after a Scottish king) is a way for Maddie to honor Julie and continue something that Julie started.
Themes
Maddie’s interview with Balliol was in the debriefing room. She realized as she walked in that she was such a ragamuffin—she was still wearing the pants the photographer gave her, Etienne’s jacket, and Jamie’s boots. Maddie couldn’t help but think of the interrogation room in Ormaie as Balliol held a hand out and asked if she’d slept. Suddenly angry, Maddie called him “mein Hauptsturmführer” and then apologized in French. This shocked him, but Balliol helped Maddie sit and got her a cup of tea. He then asked what she was afraid of. Maddie admitted she killed Julie and was afraid of being hanged for murder. In that moment, Maddie realized that Julie was tortured in that room—the German spy tried to strangle her, as Eva Seiler, in the Cottage.
Maddie’s knee-jerk reaction of speaking in German and then French drives home just how traumatized she is by her experiences in France. Intellectually she knows she’s safe in England, but she doesn’t emotionally believe that yet. Still, Maddie is an honest person and feels compelled to tell the truth. This suggests that she’s not ashamed of killing Julie and doesn’t believe she did the wrong thing. Rather, she’s willing to stand by her actions and make it clear that she did exactly what Julie wanted her to do.
Themes
Balliol told Maddie to tell him the whole story, starting when she arrived in France. Maddie told him everything, but she left out that she still had Julie’s account and her own account in her bag. Engel and Penn told Maddie enough that she didn’t have to mention it. Maddie doesn’t want to have to give the account away to a London filing clerk.
Through reading Julie’s account, Maddie feels like Julie is still alive in some capacity. So, it makes sense that she doesn’t want to give up the last thing she has of her best friend. Keeping Julie’s writing means that Maddie will be able to connect to her friend whenever she wants.
Themes
When Maddie finished, Balliol assured Maddie she wouldn’t hang. Verity was “killed in action,” just as the first report stated. He promised to keep her secret and asked if she’d told anyone. Maddie admitted she told Jamie, and then she pointed out that the room is bugged, and that people always listen in. Balliol shook his head but then sent Maddie away to take a short nap. Maddie dreamed Julie was teaching her the foxtrot in the kitchen of Castle Craig. Waking up was torture, as the dream felt real.
Maddie makes it clear here that she knows what she says in this room isn’t really confidential—it’s just for show. This is a way for Maddie to essentially call out Balliol and show that she knows more than he thinks she should. Dreaming about Julie like this again shows how upset Maddie is as she grieves for her best friend—Julie will, no doubt, continue to haunt Maddie like this for some time.
Themes
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Then, Balliol grilled Maddie on all sorts of names and coordinates until Maddie snapped and asked why he needed this; he already knew everything. He admitted that he was supposed to test her, since nobody knew what to do with her. The Air Ministry wanted to take away her license, while the SOE wanted to get her a medal and keep her with them. It turns out that Maddie won’t get a medal, but she does get to keep her job. She’s so relieved. Soon she’ll be ferrying planes to France for the invasion.
Things seem to turn out okay for Maddie: she’s going to get to continue to fly, and she’ll get to make some approved flights to France in the future. And interestingly, it doesn’t seem like her sex plays much of a role in any of this back and forth. Maddie is a good pilot—Balliol has said so before—and now she gets to reap the reward for her good work.
Themes
Maddie is exhausted, but she has one more thing to write. Balliol gave her a copy of a message from the Damask Circuit, which says that Isolde’s father has been found dead. It seems like a suicide. Maddie explained to Balliol that von Linden is Isolde’s father, the man who questioned and sentenced Verity.
It is, of course, impossible to know why von Linden committed suicide (if his death even was a suicide). But it’s possible that like Engel, he knew what Julie was up to and regrets his role in torturing her and in her death.
Themes
Maddie keeps thinking of the “ripples in the pond.” Nothing stops in one place. Maddie met all sorts of people briefly and didn’t even learn most of their names. She doesn’t know the name of Julie’s great-aunt, or the Rosalie’s driver. There’s the Jewish doctor and the Jewish flutist whose papers Julie wrote on. Maddie doesn’t expect to see Engel again, and Isolde is in Switzerland. She probably doesn’t know her father killed himself. Maddie still has the matchbook von Linden gave Amélie.
Although Maddie doesn’t know these people’s names, through her account and Julie’s, they will all be memorialized in some way. Noting them here reiterates that there are plenty of people fighting for what’s right, even if they do so quietly or anonymously.
Themes
But now, Maddie has had a bath and will spend just one more night here. She’s going to keep Julie’s scarf, but she’s sending her account and Julie’s with Jamie to his and Julie’s mother. Maddie is so grateful that she’s in England and can keep working, but part of her is buried under roses in France. That part of her is “unflyable, stuck in the climb.”
Maddie has previously acknowledged how hard it must be for a parent to not know what happened to their child. So, sending the accounts to Julie’s mother is a way to ease Julie’s mother’s suffering by making sure she knows what happened to her daughter. And though Maddie may move on with her life, she’ll never forget or fully recover from losing Julie.
Themes
