Okay, I love Code Name Verity. It’s one of my favorite historical fiction novels (maybe even my favorite historical fiction novel?) and I’ve read it at least three times. There are so many clever little things found within the pages. Today, I’m going to indulge in the sudden urge to analyze what makes Code Name Verity the masterpiece it is.
By the way, if you have not read Code Name Verity yet, this is your last chance to turn back. The book is even better if you don’t know what you’re getting into. But if you’re truly determined to read on, I won’t stop you.
*SPOILERS*
The unreliable narrator
Code Name Verity is a historical fiction novel set during WWII. Told in two parts, the first 60% of the book is the complete report of Scottish spy, Julie (code name: Verity), who is captured by Nazis and forced to write about her involvement in the British war effort. This report is a mixture of first-person narrative (Julie’s experience being held prisoner) and third-person (Julie’s friendship with the pilot Maddie and their roles in the British war effort).
One of the best things about Code Name Verity is the twist that you get in the end. In the second part, a series of diary entries written by Julie’s best friend, Maddie (code name: Kittyhawk), it’s revealed that a lot of Julie’s report is false. Julie had been improvising the entire time so she could give fake information to the Nazis and simultaneously get important information to the Allies. So that report you just read? It’s not reliable.
Aside from describing fake airports and people, Julie paints one of her guards, the chemist Engel, in a very unsympathetic way. The twist here? Engel had been helping Julie the entire time, even meeting up with Maddie later to deliver Julie’s report. The other twist? Julie mentions in her report that she’d been told that Maddie was killed when their plane was shot down. The way Wein uses Julie’s report to tell the story is such a clever way to draw the reader in and paint an elaborate and believable tale. The fact that Julie wasn’t telling the complete truth makes you see the novel in a new light.
Effective use of story-within-a-story
From a birds’ eye view, Code Name Verity is essentially one part report and one part diary. Yet the two completely different pieces are used to form a cohesive plot — one that tells both sides of the story.
In her report, Julie tells the story of how she became friends with Maddie and eventually how and why they were sent to France. This prepares the reader for the second part of the novel — Maddie’s part. Because the reader is already familiar with Maddie, it makes sense for her to tell the other half of the story, especially since the reader is aware of the relationship she has with Julie. The link they have is even clearer since Maddie was the pilot who had flown Julie to France; as a result she feels responsible when Julie goes missing.
Essentially, Julie has stories within her story within the overall story. (It’s STORYCEPTION!) This adds to the overall intricacy of the book and gives the characters more layers since the reader gets to know the girls’ thoughts, feelings, and histories through their writing.
Use of motifs
Not enough paper
As Julie writes her report, one thing that constantly comes up is her desperation for more paper to write on. At first, it seems like she is desperate to keep writing in order to avoid punishment, but the truth is, her need for paper is linked to her urgency about finishing things so that her report can get to the Allies (in this case, Engel gives the report to Maddie; the information in it allows her to attempt a rescue mission).
“I have told the truth”
Another thing that Julie continuously stresses is that her report is entirely factual. In the final pages, out of desperation, she writes “I have told the truth” over and over again until her pencil is taken away. Once it’s shown that she’s been fudging details the entire time, this all becomes somewhat ironic. It’s another clever little idea that changes your entire perspective on the book.
What’s even better, her report isn’t entirely false. Julie’s report details several important things about her location and the condition she and other prisoners have been kept in. It’s these details that help Maddie form a plan with the French resistance to try and save Julie.
“Kiss me, Hardy”
This is the one that gets me. This is the one that gets me every. Single. Time. A reference to Admiral Horatio Nelson’s last words, Julie has said this exact phrase to Maddie multiple times in their previous missions. It’s a little phrase that makes Julie who she is, if you will.
So when Maddie and her team track down Julie, they find her and other prisoners about to be moved to a concentration camp. Shocked by the violence happening before her, Maddie bursts into sobs that Julie instantly recognizes. Although she’s happy her friend is alive, she also realizes that this is her last chance for a merciful death. And so Julie screams, “Kiss me, Hardy! Kiss me, quick!”
And Maddie, instantly understanding Julie’s request, shoots Julie and kills her immediately.
So there you go.
This scene — I can’t describe how much this scene makes me feel. It was agonizing, it was shocking, but it was beautiful. It cuts right to the heart and it twists the phrase “Kiss me, Hardy” so the reader can never see it the same way again. It’s emotionally powerful and it’s what takes the story to a whole other level.
Further reading: Kiss Me, Quick: How Code Name Verity Pulls the Rug Out from Under its Readers
That’s all for now!
Have you read Code Name Verity? What were your thoughts on it? Let me know in the comments below!
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