Imagery In A Passage From Wein's Code Name

This passage from Wein’s Code Name Verity centers on Maddie, as she soars around the British coast before their declaration of war against Germany. While it is later revealed that Julie narrates this passage, the author uses vivid imagery to transport the reader alongside the young pilot. While Maddie is airborne, Wein writes, “She flew over the great castle crags of Lindisfarne and Bamburgh to the north and south, and over the ruins of the twelfth century priory, and over all the fields stretching yellow and green toward the low Cheviot Hills of Scotland,” (). This is the quintessential image of an idyllic British landscape while gesturing to her imperial history. Sites such as Hadrian’s Wall and the Cheviot Hills of Scotland reflect the power

The physical landscape serves as a metaphor for her internal reflection. Maddie’s fond memories are engraved with British literature, such as Arthur Ransome’s Swallows and Amazons, and J.M Barrie’s Peter Pan, and associated with her landscape. These texts exemplify British exploration, aviation, and inquisitiveness. Playing a vital role in the establishment of the empire, these traits define Maddie’s character. After seeing the state in its entirety, she is “…in the cockpit weeping,” because her childhood dream of operating an airplane has come to fruition (). She feels the need to protect the state from Germany, stating, “All was about to be swallowed in nights of flame and blackout,” (). While Britain had yet to declare war, this sentence suggests the narrator knows that the outbreak of another World War is looming. Furthermore, Maddie’s ability to fly around the entire island in the span of an afternoon makes her realize the vulnerability of Britain. After confirming her, “…love for her island home that she’d seen whole and fragile from the air in the space of an afternoon, from coast to coast…,” the young Brit prepares to defend it