Code Name Verity by Elizabeth E. Wein

CHARACTERS -

The main character throughout most of the book is “Verity”, or Julie. She is actually telling the story of Maddie, however, although her presence seems to still be main focus throughout the story. Halfway through the book, however, it switched to Maddie’s point of view, or “Kittyhawk”. With both of the girls, you can see the changes in them. They both develop greatly and you can see it through them by just looking at what they are afraid of. It mentions once in the story that Julie once said that she was afraid of growing old, and then she say’s later that she could eat her words: she is now afraid of never growing old. “But mainly so very, very stupid. I desperately want to grow old” (114). With Maddie, you can see her changing just by the way her want to live grows as she is trapped under cover for many months without being able to see home, her best friend, or even just simply someone that she is comfortable around.

IDEAS -

At the very beginning of the book, the main idea is really that “Verity”, or Julie, and her friend have crashed in Nazi-infested France. While Julie believes that her friend is dead, she had been captured by the Gestapo and is in questioning. She makes a deal with one of the head officials there to write a full confession and explanation about a list of things in England. “I’m going to give you everything I can remember. Absolutely Every Last Detail.” (3). At first, it is all about Julie writing the confession and just trying to tell her story and fulfil what she has to in order to live longer. As the plot advances, though, it begins to be more about Julie fighting for more time to finishing the story that she’s written, and she is no longer as worried about completing the list .

MEANI...

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... being driven out of her mind, so writing is one of the only things she can do to keep herself occupied. “I know I shouldn’t write but I’ve got to do something.She writes about everything that she is experiencing, and while every once and a while looks back into the past, she is usually in the present. This is written in first person point of view as well.

ORDER -

The author of “Code Name Verity” put the writing in an order so that while you can also learn about what happened before the story, you also know about the events in the present. The author also writes it so that you eventually figure out how everything is working out. The author probably wrote it this way so that it can stay true to the story, since the story is actually what Julie is writing as a confession for the Gestapo. Or, in part two, it is what Maddie is writing so that she doesn’t go insane.