Codes are one of the main motifs in Rescue, as the young protagonist wants to become “a cryptologist in London, creating and deciphering codes to help with the war effort” (36). Indeed, the plot of the novel revolves around Meg’s love of codes, which symbolizes her connection with her father and fits into the larger context of WWII resistance efforts. Narratively speaking, the coded messages included in the story also provide opportunities for misdirection and plot twists, which creates intrigue and suspense.

At the beginning of the book, Meg states:

For most of my life, Papa and I had shared a love of codes. Our game was to create something the other could not decipher. Neither of us yet had lost the game.

The day he left for the war, Papa had given me a tall jar of folded papers, each one with a different code. He believed he’d made enough papers for me to solve one code each week until he came home (35).

Harper’s codes are a way for him and his daughter to stay connected despite his absence, and Meg uses her father’s jar of codes to count down the days until his return.