Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Code Talker, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Memory, Language, and Identity
The Navajo Way and the Life of the Warrior
Culture and Patriotism
War, Healing, and Peace
Summary
Analysis
The narrator, Ned Begay, addresses his grandchildren. They have asked him about a medal he owns. Ned explains that, for many years, he wasn’t allowed to tell the story behind this medal. It’s the story of Navajo marines’ role in the American victory in World War II. It is a big story, but Ned thinks he can do it justice. After all, during the war, the lives of many others depended on the memories of Ned and other Navajo men like him.
The author uses Ned’s storytelling to his grandchildren as a narrative device. This device frames the entire story as a passing down of Navajo tradition, something that’s extremely important to Ned. It also reflects the reality that Navajo marines’ special role remained classified (kept secret) for an entire generation after they had served.
Themes
Ned shows his grandchildren the medal. Among other men, it depicts a Pima Indian man named Ira Hayes. Ned knew him when they were both young men, and they fought together on a Pacific island. That was a terrible battle, but Ira fought to the top of Mount Suribachi and helped raise the flag there—a scene which was famously photographed. Ned wasn’t among those men, but he had a special role, too—he sent the message reporting the Marines’ victory and many brave deeds.
Ned refers to the iconic photo of the flag-raising on Iwo Jima, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1945. Ira Hayes, too, was a real historical figure, best known for his appearance in the photo. With the exception of Ned himself and some of the white marines, most people named in the story (especially Navajos) are actual historical figures.
Themes
Ned refers to the United States as Nihimá—“Our Mother.” He explains that while fighting on faraway islands, he and other Indians always remembered that “we were defending Our Mother, the sacred land that sustains us.” They also made up names for other lands, based on something they knew about a country or its people. But Ned is getting ahead of himself—he hasn’t explained why the Navajo language was so important during World War II. It’s because he was a Navajo code talker. To explain what this means, he will have to start at the beginning.
Ned’s reverence for his sacred land is a recurrent theme in the story. It was also a primary motivation for his service in the war. He believes that Native Americans, having lived in America longer than any white person, have the best motivation to fight in its defense.
Themes
