The Character In Elizabeth Wein's Code Name

In the beginning Elizabeth Wein’s Code Name Verity, the driving plot factor is the friendship development between the characters Maddie and Queenie. The first instance the reader gets that these two know each other is when the narrator (Queenie) is telling her German guards that she was in a plane with Maddie before she was captured. The reader does not get the story of how these two first met until later on in the narrator’s narrative to her German guards. When the two first meet, Maddie is working as a radar operator during the war helping guide allied aircrafts home. Maddie comes into contact with a lost German aircraft who’s pilot mistakenly believes he has already crossed the English Channel and is communicating with his comrades in
German occupied France. Maddie needs someone who can speak German, a girl named Queenie is found to do the job. Queenie does a fantastic job of acting like a German radio operator and tricks the German aircraft into landing on their English base. Maddie is obviously quite impressed with her acting skills. She also gains respect for Queenie when she witnesses her translating during the interrogation of the captured German pilot knowing that she could never do that herself. They eventually share an umbrella during a rainstorm and become friends. They shoot down a plane together, they bond over their fears together, and even go on a pretend mission as German spies trying to find a certain bar together. Soon, they regard themselves as a team. Both characters seem to each have separate moments of vulnerability with each other as their relationship develops.
When they first meet, Maddie sees Queenie as someone who is not scared when it comes to pretending to be someone she is not when stakes are high, and as someone who is not afraid of gunfire unlike herself. Queenie has a vulnerable moment with Maddie when she shares how she responds to situations without always thinking them through. Queenie shares how tricking the German pilot into landing on their base could have caused his death. Maddie thus far has admired that Queenie for this trait. She would not have shot down that enemy aircraft without Queenie pushing her to do so. This instance was the first time Maddie sees Queenie as the vulnerable one and helps her recognize that the two really are not as different as she thought. These vulnerabilities seem to strengthen the bond the two characters have for one another. This strengthened bond is seen in their cooperation on their pretend mission as German spies. They worked so well together with Queenie’s acting skills of doing a fake working class accent, and Maddie’s navigation skills. Its as if the entire relationship thus far has built up to this moment after both vulnerabilities are
displayed. Their relationship is also seen building as they share fears with one another. At first, they start out almost childish; like Queenie saying her biggest fear is breaking a nail. As they grow closer over time both these characters reveal significantly deeper-rooted fears. Like Maddie’s genuine fear of letting someone down, or Queenie’s fear of court-martial that shows she is fearful of the things she has done. One does not usually shared their deepest fear with someone they just met. Wein has created a direct parallel of how close these two characters are by the level of fears they share with one other.