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Part 1: Ormaie 16.XI.43 JB-S
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
The narrator writes that they washed her hair with kerosene to get rid of the lice. Just after von Linden left last night, there was an air raid. Everyone went to their shelters, and the narrator was alone for two hours (this is underlined). The RAF unfortunately didn’t hit the hotel. In her panic, the narrator tipped her chair over (she’s tied to it) and wiggled to the door, so guards tripped over her when they came in. Finally, they got her upright, and von Linden offered her a pill: aspirin. And he’s giving her another week to write in exchange for talking to an American radio announcer who broadcasts Nazi propaganda in English for Americans. The announcer wants to know how well prisoners are treated. Von Linden thinks the narrator will make a good impression.
Von Linden no doubt knows how afraid the narrator is of being burned alive with kerosene, so saying “kerosene” yesterday with no context comes across as manipulative and cruel. But this fear is how von Linden can ensure that the narrator will play along with whatever he wants her to say during the upcoming interview with the American. And again, the reason for the underlined text is a mystery that will be solved later.
Themes
The narrator explains that two of her guards didn’t realize she speaks German, so she learned what they plan to do with her. She’s a Nacht und Nebel, or “Night and Fog,” prisoner, which means they see her as a security risk and will make her “disappear.”
Learning about Nacht und Nebel again forces the narrator to confront her imminent death—and it suggests that her death might be particularly terrible. But even if the narrator herself “disappears,” it’s possible that her written narrative will live on.
Themes
The aspirin and kerosene will hopefully make the narrator presentable. The Gestapo have decided that she’s going to translate von Linden’s notes so it looks like they’re putting her to use. The narrator is translating them to French, while Engel is making copies in German. The job is terrible. The narrator now knows that von Linden is methodical and good at his job (she’d love to know what his civilian job was). He clearly spent weeks watching the narrator and developing his plan for how to torture and extract information from her. It’s a bit comforting to know that the narrator isn’t the only “Judas” in the building.
Though the Gestapo aren’t actually “using” the narrator for much except intel, they clearly recognize (just as the Machiavellian Intelligence Officer did) that the narrator is extremely valuable because she’s trilingual. But being so qualified comes with a price: now, the narrator gets insight she never wanted into how von Linden operates. This is, perhaps, another way for the Nazis to intimidate the narrator, since she may now know how he plans to deal with her. On another note, the reference to Judas (the biblical disciple who betrayed Jesus) suggests that both von Linden and the narrator are betrayers—implying that the narrator probably knows more than she’s letting on in her account.
Themes
Addressing von Linden, the narrator thanks him for her eiderdown blanket, which is embroidered “C d B” (Château de Bordeaux; this is underlined). Who knows what the Gestapo did with the other hotel furnishings. The narrator doesn’t see much of the rest of the hotel; her window is boarded shut like all the prisoners’ rooms (this is underlined). Now, the narrator has to get to work writing; she doesn’t have much time left.
The narrator’s choice to address this passage to von Linden is interesting. It’s possible to read it as an acknowledgement that he’s powerful—he’s clearly keeping the narrator in the dark about how the hotel functions, and how the Gestapo changed it for their purposes. But the underlining again calls into question what, exactly, the narrator is trying to accomplish by writing her account.
Themes
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Ferry Pilot. Back in Maddie’s story, Maddie was back at Oakway. She was now a civilian (ATA is a civilian organization), so she could live at home. She loved getting to fly, even though the training left a lot to be desired (they wanted her working, even without sufficient training). ATA pilots died every week, since they flew in weather that fighter pilots and bombers refused to fly in. On Maddie’s first day, she was assigned a Lysander with a broken tailplane handwheel.
The fact that the ATA puts Maddie on the job without all the proper training first speaks to how desperately they need pilots. And interestingly, at this point at least, it doesn’t seem like the ATA is judging Maddie based on her sex. This suggests that in the ATA, Maddie might finally be recognized for her abilities and not be held back by sexism.
Themes
Not a Safe Job. The officers briefed Maddie on the route, since she’d need two hands to fly the broken Lysander and so couldn’t use maps. The ground crew was aghast that a girl would be flying that particular plane—Maddie, they said, was just a “slip of a lass” and wasn’t strong enough. Maddie told them she’d manually adjust the tail and told the crew how she’d fly. Finally, one man nodded. The flight was hard but not scary. It took Maddie three tries to land the plane, but she landed it safely when she finally did.
Alas, Maddie is still encountering casual sexism—the ground crew, presumably all male, underestimate her abilities (though they do ultimately concede that she’s probably qualified). Noting that this flight was hard but not frightening shows how eager Maddie is for a challenge and how brave she is—in her mind, flying the broken plane isn’t a mortal threat.
Themes
Maddie headed for the canteen for a sandwich, where she came face to face with a ghost: a female pilot who looked just like a shot-down male pilot Maddie knew at Maidsend. The girl introduced herself as Theo, the dead pilot’s brother. Theo noted that the boys always gave the girls the Lysanders, and it’s not fair that they gave Maddie a broken one for her first try. Maddie said she was taking a functional one with an S on the side to its base later. Theo said the plane was for RAF Special Duties. Special Duties was very hush-hush, but Theo implied that those were the planes landing in Europe to meet with Resistance agents and smuggle things into Europe.
Even as Maddie is starting to live her dream of flying planes, she can’t ignore the horrors of the war. Meeting Theo forces her to remember Theo’s shot-down brother, and to remember more broadly that she has this job because male pilots are dying every day. And Theo’s note that the boys give female pilots Lysanders, and that it’s not fair to give Maddie a broken one, implies that Maddie’s first ferry trip was something of a test. She’s clearly passed it, though, proving that she is qualified regardless of her sex.
Themes
Theo then noted that Lysanders were great to land—they didn’t need much runway—and then showed Maddie how the runways lit by flashlights were set up. The narrator interjects to note that the Moon Squadron is the group that uses the Special Duties airfield. The squadron only flies by moonlight, and the narrator has no idea where their airfield is (this is on purpose; they always flew her there in convoluted ways). Maddie worked for a while ferrying damaged Special Duties planes, and then she started to ferry passengers. Soon, the pilots at the airfield recognized Maddie by her impressively short landings. The narrator is out of time.
Maddie continues to prove herself as she masters the short landings in Lysanders, successfully ferries more broken planes, and then starts getting to ferry passengers. The ATA is giving her a chance to advance, despite her sex. The narrator’s asides about Special Duties and the Moon Squadron again gives her some credibility, as she lays out clearly what she does and doesn’t know about the groups.
Themes
