Never Let Me Go: 9

"Someone would wander up and ask: 'What's the sound?' and if they liked the answer, they'd sit down on the grass and wait their turn" (103).

A synechdoche is used here in "sound." The sound refers to the music playing on their newly acquired Walkmans. The music playing on these Walkmans would be more than just sound; there would be the music and lyrics. Even if there were no words on specific tapes, the music is still more than just sound. The "sound" represents the musical and lyrical arrangement as a whole. The synechdoche's purpose is to relay to the reader, in a less indirect way, the laidback, peaceful, good atmosphere that was becomming pretty regular on the Hailsham campus. The synecdoche is effective because it not only relays the atmosphere of the time, but it also describes the setting. In England, they may refer to music as sound. They may refer to many things in a synechdochal manner that seems foreign to us, but is quite common to them. The synecdoche displays the regional dialect of the children at Hailsham.