The Code

This is basically the big symbol in this book… which you could probably figure out because its title is, um, Code Talkers.

So what is this code? Well, Chester and his Navajo buddies go through Marine boot camp and they're locked in a room by a Marine officer and told that they're "to use [their] native language to devise an unbreakable code" (10.5). Talk about a challenge. We'd have thought boot camp was tough enough. Oh yeah, and remember that Chester is high-school aged at this point. The government is entrusting winning WWII to a dude who really should be working a part-time job and agonizing over the SATs.

The code is the big symbol in Code Talker. The code helps the Americans win the war against the Japanese in the Pacific. Within hours of being in operation in the war, the Navajos' "secret language…was indispensable" (12.66).

Can we give the code talkers a standing ovation? Like right now?

Again and again, Chester emphasizes what an important role the code plays in winning the war:

The Navajo code […] had allowed United States troops to move and attack, secure in the secrecy of their plans. (15.40)

The code is seen as "one of the most effective weapons the United States had utilized in fighting the Japanese" (21.1). And two presidents—Richard Nixon and George W. Bush—emphasize what an important part the code played in wining the war. Nixon says that the code helped "save the lives of countless men and women and sped the realization of peace for war-torn lands." (21.6). Bush says that the Navajo code "'turned the course of battle'" in the Pacific (21.7).

Yeah: two Presidents of the United States said that the Navajo code was pretty much crucial to winning WWII. It was mind-bogglingly important.

But the code isn't just a code. It's also a symbol in the book, representing many things. On one level, it represents the resourcefulness of the Marines. Those guys were up against a very tough enemy—the Japanese and their scary Banzai—but they managed to develop a weapon, the code, which helped to defeat the Japanese.

On another level, the code also represents the heroism of the Navajo Marines specifically. As George W. Bush says in his speech, the Navajos, "'in a desperate hour, gave their country a service only they could give'" (21.7). As the developers of the code, the Navajos are heroes who help save the country.

And on a third level, the code also represents the reconciliation between Chester's Navajo and Anglo cultures. After all, the Navajo Marines have to use both English and Navajo in coming up with the code. Chester tells us how he and his buddies:

[…] decided to use an English word […] to represent each letter of the English alphabet. Those words would then be translated into Navajo, and the Navajo word would represent the English letter. (10.13)

The code, in other words, allows the Navajo Marines to bring aspects of their dual identities together: Anglo and Navajo. In this way, the code bridges the gap between the two cultures.