Character Clues
Character Analysis
Names
Or perhaps we should say code names, especially given the title… We doubt actual code names were chosen to reveal so much about the individual, but the ones in Code Name Verity certainly tell us a lot.
Verity, for instance, means truth, and much of Julie's story is concerned with how much of the truth she's telling and whether or not she's telling the truth at all. She ends her narrative by writing over and over again, "I have told the truth" (1.28.XI.43.25). Maddie's code name, Kittyhawk, definitely tells us she's into flying and being a small but mighty force to be reckoned with, while La Cadette means little sister, which is exactly what Amélie is—a very tough little sister (2.2.3).
The code names from Peter Pan are also revealing: Jamie becomes John, the elder brother, while the young, easily confused pilot becomes Michael, the younger brother. Mitraillette certainly sounds like someone who would know her way around a submachine gun, and as Maddie says in reference to her code name, "It suits her" (2.2.2). The Bloody Machiavellian English Intelligence Officer playing God is ruthless in his use of people for his own ends, and the journalist's name is Georgia Penn. Really, it's like someone's trying to tell us something.
Occupations
It's possible that we're generalizing a bit here, but if one is a Nazi officer, it is possible that one does not have one's priorities entirely in the right order. In general, we classify Nazi officers, especially those who are cool with torture, as "bad guys." Terrible though they might be, however, we owe it to our characters to take it a bit further.
Von Linden is the middle management type: he doesn't necessarily like what he's doing, but it's his job, you know? While Thibaut is definitely a lackey without any power who's trying to use the little he does have to make himself feel important. Ferber is an upper-level Nazi, so he's clearly a terrible person—terrible enough to really impress other super terrible people and rise through the ranks. Ugh.
Let's look at the non-Nazis in the book now. Being a pilot is as much a part of Maddie as breathing, and being a spy comes naturally to Julie because, as she admits, "I have always been good at pretending" (1.8.XI.43.2). Anna Engel's training as a chemist is what makes her valuable to the Nazis—and it's also what allows her to work against them from within. And Georgia Penn's work as a journalist is what allows her to walk into prison camps and find people, all while on Berlin's payroll.
Basically, everyone in the book has a job to do, and we know they're particularly well-suited for their jobs in many cases because the government chose them for their posts based on qualities and skills they already possessed. It's not just about a paycheck then—it's about personality, too.
Direct Characterization
Neither Julie nor Maddie hesitates to tell us exactly what she thinks of the people she's around, which is maybe not so smart of them when they don't know who's going to be reading their work, though it's definitely good for us as readers.
We know that Paul is an amazing circuit organizer but a total letch because Maddie tells us over and over again, and we know just about everything about Julie and Maddie themselves because the other one tells us. Nearly the entire book is direct characterization of one character or another. Be sure to check out the "Characters" section to see how each character is directly described.