At one time most of my friends could hear the bell, but as years passed, it fell silent for all of them. Even Sarah found one Christmas that she could no longer hear its sweet sound. Though I've grown old, the bell still rings for me, as for all who truly believe.

You know, when I first read The Polar Express (not when I was a kid, but a while ago nevertheless), I thought, like everyone else, that this thing with the bell was a sweet, poignant sentiment, an allegory for how we need to have childlike faith in this world of cynicism and doubt. Upon (much) further consideration, though, I think I have changed my mind, because the metaphor is wrong. Let me explain. The logic goes that if you believe <--> you will be able to hear the bell <--> you have childlike innocence. What, though, do you expect a bell in the real world to do? Why, ring! So, the remarkable thing is not so much that the children can hear the bell, but that the adults can't. In other words, what van Allsburg is trying to say is that when you lose your childlike faith, you lose something that "ought to be" in the normal world, which is just crap. Now, contrast this with a Peter Pan-like plot device -- say that the kids were taught how to fly instead of given a bell -- now that would work for the allegory because there's nothing abnormal about not being able to fly. I wouldn't have a problem with that, because all it would mean is that when you grow up, and can't fly anymore (metaphorically), you have to rely on (skeptical) faith in the unknown (or the unknowable). Thought about that way, the conclusion of the book as it is written becomes nothing more than a giant guilt trip -- never grow up, you'll lose a "natural" part of yourself! Coincidentally, this is exactly the kind of guilt that Christianity tries to sell people (with the "only if you have childlike faith can you get to heaven" advertisement) -- if you "grow up", (interpreted as "be rational and question your belief"), then you've lost a vital part of yourself. This is utter nonsense, and is also the reason why millions upon millions of Christians everywhere would much prefer to see their faith as that ringing bell. I can hear it, they say, I'm normal! Why can't you?