Eduardo Galeano, a Uruguayan journalist, once said “The purpose of torture is not getting information. It is spreading fear.” The novel Code Name Verity, by Elizabeth Wein, follows the story of Julie as she is captured and tortured by the Gestapo for sets of code and other information. She is forced to write down all of her experiences and information she knows about the England War Effort. In Code Name Verity, Elizabeth Wein gives the reader insight on how terribly the prisoners are treated, the inhumane things done and how they will be forever scarred. Many inhumane and appalling things were done to prisoners of war, but the worst were the ways they were physically treated. For example when Julie and two other male prisoners were being
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At the beginning of the book, Code Name Verity, Julie is being tortured by the Gestapo for information about codes. Julie informs the reader about what is being done to her for the information, “my present circumstance, like ‘please let me go to sleep’ or ‘feed me’ or ‘get rid of this sodding iron rail you have kept tied against my spine for the past three days’” (Wien 3). This quote is important because it gives insight on what the Gestapo would do just to get some information. It also describes some of the techniques the Gestapo used to obtain the wanted information. The techniques the Gestapo used to gain information are similar to some techniques used today by the CIA. One technique is, “Long Time Standing: This technique is described among the most effective. Prisoners are forced to stand, handcuffed and with their feet shackled to an eye bolt in the floor for more than 40 hours. Exhaustion and sleep deprivation are effective in yielding confessions” (CIA’s Harsh Interrogation Techniques Described). This article shows how cruelly the prisoners are treated and one harsh method used to gain information. These quotes give more insight on how the prisoners are treated, and they describe what is done to them to gain information. In order to gain the wanted information, the prisoners were tortured and treated inhumanly until the breaking …show more content…
The prisoners of war were treated physically so brutally that it lead to permanent damage and sometimes even death. The techniques the captors would use to gain information (ex. Long Time Standing) were harsh and inhumane, and the Gestapo broke laws on how prisoners should be treated and what the prisoners of war should be able to do. Elizabeth Wein was trying to vividly describe and inform the reader how terribly and inhumanly the prisoners of war were treated. Although the book Code Name Verity is based in the past, during WWII, the ways the prisoner are treated are still similar today. Some techniques are similar and overall how they are treated is similar. Elizabeth Wein is trying to inform the reader of how terrible it is. Just like Eduardo Galeano once said, the prisoners are not tortured for information, they are tortured in order to spread fear about their
At the beginning of the book, Code Name Verity, Julie is being tortured by the Gestapo for information about codes. Julie informs the reader about what is being done to her for the information, “my present circumstance, like ‘please let me go to sleep’ or ‘feed me’ or ‘get rid of this sodding iron rail you have kept tied against my spine for the past three days’” (Wien 3). This quote is important because it gives insight on what the Gestapo would do just to get some information. It also describes some of the techniques the Gestapo used to obtain the wanted information. The techniques the Gestapo used to gain information are similar to some techniques used today by the CIA. One technique is, “Long Time Standing: This technique is described among the most effective. Prisoners are forced to stand, handcuffed and with their feet shackled to an eye bolt in the floor for more than 40 hours. Exhaustion and sleep deprivation are effective in yielding confessions” (CIA’s Harsh Interrogation Techniques Described). This article shows how cruelly the prisoners are treated and one harsh method used to gain information. These quotes give more insight on how the prisoners are treated, and they describe what is done to them to gain information. In order to gain the wanted information, the prisoners were tortured and treated inhumanly until the breaking …show more content…
The prisoners of war were treated physically so brutally that it lead to permanent damage and sometimes even death. The techniques the captors would use to gain information (ex. Long Time Standing) were harsh and inhumane, and the Gestapo broke laws on how prisoners should be treated and what the prisoners of war should be able to do. Elizabeth Wein was trying to vividly describe and inform the reader how terribly and inhumanly the prisoners of war were treated. Although the book Code Name Verity is based in the past, during WWII, the ways the prisoner are treated are still similar today. Some techniques are similar and overall how they are treated is similar. Elizabeth Wein is trying to inform the reader of how terrible it is. Just like Eduardo Galeano once said, the prisoners are not tortured for information, they are tortured in order to spread fear about their