Never Let Me Go: Chapter 4 Summary & Analysis

Kathy briefly details an event at Hailsham, dating from around the time she was ten, which she calls “the Tokens controversy.” She remarks that, even at that early age, students began getting more acquisitive when it regarded their own things—they wanted to build “collections” of small objects, the only things they were allowed to own at school. These objects were traded for at the sale and the exchange. But because some students had their work taken away by Madame, supposedly for inclusion in the Gallery, before the work could be exchanged to another student, a group of angry students, including a boy named Rory, went to Miss Emily, the headmistress of the school, and demanded tokens in exchange for this work given to Madame.

Kathy was surprised to learn that Miss Emily was willing to give these students a small number of tokens in compensation for their work. But Miss Emily also noted that having art selected by Madame was “a great honor.” When Kathy and some other students bring up the Tokens later, in a class with Miss Lucy, they find that Miss Lucy wants to discuss the matter with them. But Miss Lucy feels she can only say that Madame takes their art away “for a very good reason,” and that, sooner or later, this reason will be explained to the Hailsham students. This ends the Tokens controversy, as the students no longer feel comfortable discussing it.

Kathy also describes, briefly, the sales, which, unlike the exchanges, were held at Hailsham so that students could “buy” (with tokens given by the guardians) objects from “the outside world.” These objects tended to be mundane—scissors, old shirts—but the students clamored over them, and occasionally the guardians would have to “shut down” sales that descended into fighting. On these occasions, Miss Emily would give long speeches to the students of Hailsham, telling them that they are special, and that they ought to behave better and be worthy of their “privilege.” Kathy also notes that, at the time, everyone was scared of Miss Emily, but very few understood what she was saying during these speeches; they tended to be very abstract, and Miss Emily never really explained exactly what made Hailsham more special than other schools.

Kathy also recalls becoming friends with Ruth. At first, when they were very young, around age “5 or 6,” the two had very little interaction, but a few years later, Ruth asked Kathy one day if Kathy would like to “ride horses” with her. Ruth said she had two horses, one named Thunder, and another, quieter one named Bramble. Kathy agreed to ride these (invisible) horses with Ruth, and the two went to one of the playing fields and pretended to ride for a long time together. After this, the two became friends, and Ruth told Kathy that she could enter into the group of girls who were “protecting” Miss Geraldine. Kathy leaves this story till the next chapter.