Code Name Verity

Code Name Verity

by

Elizabeth Wein

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Peter Pan Symbol Analysis

Peter Pan Symbol Icon

J. M. Barrie’s novel Peter Pan is a constant through line throughout the novel, and it represents the idea that the novel’s characters are innocent children just playing at war. Early on in her account, Julie likens herself to Peter Pan himself and her captor, von Linden, to Captain Hook. She suggests that like Peter, she’s (possibly foolishly) trusting von Linden to keep his word and allow her to write her account. This gives the sense that Julie is, like a child, trusting the people around her to play fairly—but in the adult world, and the war she’s caught up in, there’s no telling whether Julie can actually trust people.

Later in Julie’s account, as she describes the days and hours before she, Maddie, Jamie, and the other pilots left England for France, she notes that the pilots’ code names all come from Peter Pan. There’s a pilot named Michael, Jamie flies with the code name John, and Maddie, the only female pilot, becomes Wendy. This creates the impression that the pilots and Julie are children heading for Neverland—but the Neverland they’re heading for, Nazi-occupied France, is far darker and more dangerous than the Neverland of Peter Pan. The group’s radio code, which gives them the all-clear to head out, also foreshadows Julie’s eventual death in France. The code message is the first line of Peter Pan—“All children, except one, grow up”—and Julie becomes the only one of the group who doesn’t get to grow up, as she dies before she gets the chance.

However, the Peter Pan symbolism isn’t all dark; at various points, it suggests that its young protagonists will always have a place to return to when they come home from Neverland. Jamie refers to his and Julie’s mother on several occasions as Mrs. Darling (the mother in Peter Pan) because she leaves her children’s windows open at night just in case her children “fly home.” And the novel ends with a letter from Julie’s mother to Maddie, in which Julie’s mother likens herself to Mrs. Darling and invites Maddie to “fly home” any time. For those children who do grow up, this suggests, they’ll have the love and support they need to recover from the trauma of their trips to France.

Peter Pan Quotes in Code Name Verity

The Code Name Verity quotes below all refer to the symbol of Peter Pan. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Friendship Theme Icon
).
Part 1: Ormaie 8.XI.43 JB-S Quotes

Von Linden resembles Captain Hook in that he is rather an upright sort of gentleman in spite of his being a brute, and I am quite Pan-like in my naïve confidence that he will play by the rules and keep his word. So far, he has.

Related Characters: Julie/The Narrator/Queenie/Verity (speaker), SS-Hauptsturmführer von Linden/The Captain
Related Symbols: Peter Pan
Page Number: 5
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 1: Ormaie 18.XI.43 JB-S Quotes

9) Not being able to finish my story.

10) Also of finishing it.

I am no longer afraid of getting old. Indeed I can’t believe I ever said anything so stupid. So childish. So offensive and arrogant.

But mainly, so very, very stupid. I desperately want to grow old.

Related Characters: Julie/The Narrator/Queenie/Verity (speaker), Maddie Brodatt
Related Symbols: Peter Pan
Page Number: 114
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 2, Section 3 Quotes

Julie has vanished.

It’s true she made her first meeting—Tues. 12 Oct., the day after we got here, but then she simply disappeared as if she’d never been in France. Today’s the 21st. She’s been missing over a week.

I understand now why her mother plays Mrs. Darling and leaves the windows open in her children’s bedrooms when they’re away. As long as you can pretend they might come back, there’s hope. I don’t think there can be anything worse in the world than not knowing what’s happened to your child—not ever knowing.

Related Characters: Maddie Brodatt (speaker), Julie/The Narrator/Queenie/Verity, Jamie, Julie’s Mother
Related Symbols: Peter Pan
Page Number: 227
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Code Name Verity LitChart as a printable PDF.
Code Name Verity PDF

Peter Pan Symbol Timeline in Code Name Verity

The timeline below shows where the symbol Peter Pan appears in Code Name Verity. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Part 1: Ormaie 8.XI.43 JB-S
The Horrors of War Theme Icon
Resistance and Courage Theme Icon
Storytelling Theme Icon
...Von Linden is a lot like Captain Hook, and the narrator is a lot like Peter Pan —she trusts that he’s going to keep his word.  (full context)
Part 1: Ormaie 18.XI.43 JB-S
The Horrors of War Theme Icon
Storytelling Theme Icon
...“Second to the right, and then straight on till morning.” Jamie asked if he was Peter Pan and then said his mother left her children’s bedroom windows open at night in case... (full context)
Part 1: Ormaie 23.XI.43 JB-S
The Horrors of War Theme Icon
Resistance and Courage Theme Icon
Storytelling Theme Icon
...and Michael were supposed to fly out that night (their code names all came from Peter Pan ; Jamie went by John). The narrator thinks that telling this story feels like the... (full context)
Friendship Theme Icon
War, Women, and Gender Roles Theme Icon
The Horrors of War Theme Icon
...and they were all listening for their code on the BBC, the first line of Peter Pan in French (“All children, except one, grow up”). Then, the phone rang with news that... (full context)
Part 2, Section 17
The Horrors of War Theme Icon
...had to use muffled oars, which Maddie has only read about in pirate stories like Peter Pan . The river was foggy, fortunately, so they wired the bridge and then waited. Maddie... (full context)