Code Name Verity (Elizabeth Wein)

1. What is the genre?

Global—War > Brotherhood

Secondary—Worldview > Maturation

2. What are the conventions and obligatory scenes for the genre?

Conventions

One Central Character with Offshoots That Embody Their Traits: The first half of the book is the written record of a POW in Nazi occupied France, Julie/Queenie, who has apparently bargained to give information in exchange for her life though we later find out she was playing her own manipulation cards and orchestrating the completion of her mission. Julie drags this “information” out as a story, which follows Maddie Broddatt—who writes the second half of the book in her airman’s log journal from her hiding places in that same area of France. Maddie is the clear central character, with Julie being the picture of her highest self. There are shadows of her rule-following self in the Nazi characters who are reluctantly (or gladly) following orders, as well.

Big Canvas. Either a wide scope external setting or the internal landscape: Much of the physical progression of time is spent in confined spaces of imprisonment or hiding, but the narration of Maddie’s arc occurs not only on the grand stage of WWII but as a female pilot as well, covering great physical distance and achieving unlikely successes.

Overwhelming odds...the protagonists are substantially outnumbered: Julie is clearly going to die at the hand of her captors, and for much of the story we’re not sure whether Maddie is still alive or how she might rescue Julie, especially since Julie is clearly the more clever one once you step outside of a plane.

A clear "point of no return" moment, when the combatants accept the inevitability of death: Maddie has been found and hidden by the Resistance, and together they stage a rescue of the prisoners being transported to a concentration camp—including Julie—only to have it go terribly south. Against all odds, Julie realizes from a distance that Maddie is part of the rescuers, and signals to Maddie that she needs to be killed quickly before she’s tortured. Maddie understands her and kills her, choosing Julie’s needs above her own long held fears of breaking rules, death, and losing Julie.

The sacrifice for brotherhood moment. One protagonist sacrifices himself for the good of his fellow soldiers: Mercy-killing Julie was part of her sacrifice, but it was emotional and not putting herself on the line. The Nazi agent who tipped off the prisoner transport also handed over the story that Julie had been writing (part one of the book), in which Maddie realizes she’d only told the essence of their story without giving away any details to the Nazis. She’d also conveyed, in code, everything necessary in order to complete her mission: to destroy that notorious prisoner holding/torture facility. Maddie again faces all of her fears and goes against all orders, is much more clever and confident than before, and puts herself in the middle of the danger to execute Julie’s plan.

Obligatory Scenes

Inciting Attack: Initially off-page, though it’s spelled out as the plot is untangled, Maddie has found a loophole in orders so that she can be the pilot for her friend Julie’s mission into France. The plane goes down and they are separated—Maddie into hiding with the Resistance and Julie into captivity nearby.

Protagonists deny responsibility to respond: Maddie stays in hiding at first, tucked into an attic just waiting. Julie bides time with her storytelling through the beginning hook, until she identifies a quietly subversive Nazi operative (Engel) who can help and sets her narrative plan in motion.

Forced to respond, protagonists lash out according to their positions on the power hierarchy: Julie and Engel begin quietly working together on their narrative. Julie relays messages in her story that only Maddie would understand, like the assurance that it’d be okay to sacrifice her as long as the mission is completed. Engel, tired of the inhumanity, watches for her opportunity to slip information away that will lead to the destruction of the prison. Maddie begins to hide in plain sight and becomes increasingly bolder in her attempts to rescue Julie.

Protagonists, realizing they must change their approach to attain a measure of victory, undergo an All Is Lost moment: After Julie’s death, Maddie can no longer be satisfied with hands off piloting and remaining distant from the nitty gritty details of war. She has to accept risk, step into her strengths, and put herself on the frontlines to fulfill Julie’s wishes.

The Big Battle Scene: the core event of the War story and what the reader is waiting for. This is the moment when the progtagonist's gifts are expressed or destroyed: The rescue attempt that turns into a brutal battle/standoff between the Resistance and Nazis.

The protagonists are rewarded with at least one level of satisfaction (extrapersonal, interpersonal or intrapersonal) for their sacrifice: When Maddie returns to England, ready to face court martial, she finds she’s now part of the larger brotherhood—she confidently sits in their spaces and speaks their language, and they understand her trauma and will look the other way instead of sticking to rules (as she might’ve before) and punishing her for the mercy-killing.

Learn more about obligatory scenes and conventions.

3. What is the point of view?

Epistolary first person, with some letters/writing using third person free indirect style for the thoughts of the main protagonist

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4. What are the objects of desire?

External/Conscious: Survival with honor.

Internal/Subconscious: To know and be known so intimately that you understand each other across time and space to come to one another’s rescue.

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5. What is the controlling idea / theme?

We survive the trauma of war by both offering and accepting the love, nobility, and self-sacrifice of our brothers/sisters.

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6. What is the beginning hook, middle build and ending payoff?

Beginning Hook - Told through the storytelling of POW Julie/Queenie, Maddie Broddatt became a UAF pilot in WWII, and how she met Julie. The two strike up a quick friendship, demonstrating their vulnerability with one another, Maddie’s hesitance, and Julie’s ability to role play and stretch the truth. The backstory narrative pauses as Julie writes about her present circumstances to create some intentional distance between herself and Engel, the Nazi agent who we later find out would help her. 

Middle Build – With the initially off-page support of Engel increasingly confirmed, Julie’s narrative becomes more direct. As the story builds, there are parts underlined and circled, that we later see is Maddie untangling the message Julie left for her. In the narrative, Maddie stretches the truth to gain permission to pilot Julie into France, and that plane goes down. Julie is captured, Maddie is pulled into hiding by the Resistance. Maddie gains the courage to hide in plain sight, and Engel relays information that can help rescue Julie. The attempt culminates in a brutal standoff, and when Nazis begin slowly killing prisoners while the Resistance watches from a distance, Julie and Maddie recognize each other, communicate subversively, and Maddie kills Julie as an intentional mercy.

Ending Payoff – While Maddie tries to make sense of what she’s done, she connects with Engel face to face, and is given the story Julie wrote as well as more information Julie wanted to relay. It’s everything Maddie and the Resistance would need to complete Julie’s mission: free the handful of prisoners and blow up the prison. Now able to face her fears and former inhibitions, she takes on the characteristics of Julie as her ideal self and displays cunning, courage, and willingness to put herself on the line for not only Julie, but for her cause and anyone aligned with it. When she returns home, she is met with brotherhood from the UAF as well as familial acceptance from Julie’s family. She’s faced her darkness and come out stronger.

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