Foreshadowing
The story begins with the use of imagery as subtle foreshadowing. The young protagonist is lying in bed, still and quiet, “listening for a sound—a sound a friend had told me I’d never hear—the ringing bells of Santa’s sleigh.” The story will ultimately become about the ability or inability to hear the ringing of those sleigh bells. The implication seems to be that the narrator’s friend just wants to ruin Santa Claus for him. By the end, this imagery will come to suggest that the friend actually cannot hear the bells.
The Spirit of Christmas
When the narrator boards the train, he is greeted by the sight of other kids dressed like himself in pajamas. He joins right in with the fun. “We sang Christmas carols and ate candies with nougat centers as white as snow. We drank hot cocoa as thick and rich as melted chocolate bars.” The imagery here is highly suggestive of a Christmastime celebration. The train is filled with iconic elements related to the holiday season. What is being described would be right at home as the illustration on a Christmas card. This portrait of joyous celebration subtly hints that the Polar Express only makes stops at the homes of true believers in Santa.
The bells
The sleigh bells are not mentioned again until the train finally arrives at the North Pole and the kids disembark to meet Santa Claus. “In front of us stood Santa’s sleigh. The reindeer were excited. They pranced and paced, ringing the silver sleigh bells that hung from their harnesses. It was a magical sound, like nothing I’d ever heard.” The deceptive quality of the initial bell imagery is finally revealed here as the subtly foreshadowed significance finally blossoms. The imagery presented is one of pure, unadulterated holiday joy. The narrator does not just hear the thing he waited so quietly for, in bed, he gets to see it in its full glory. The sensory detail of the tintinnabulation of the bells is so sublime that words fail, leaving it up to each reader to imagine on their own.
The Sound of Innocence
Before he even gets back aboard the train, the boy has managed to lose his precious gift through a hole in his pocket. The next morning is Christmas and after opening all the packages, his sister finds one small box hidden behind the truth which contains both the lost bell and a signed note from Santa. "I shook the bell. It made the most beautiful sound my sister and I had ever heard.” But this repetition of the sensory imagery experienced at the North Pole is followed by an unexpected response from his parents who agree that it must be broken. “When I’d shaken the bell, my parents had not heard a sound.” Eventually, his sister will also no longer be able to hear the sweet sound made by ringing the bell. The narrator will grow into an old man, however, and never lose the ability to hear that still-magical sound. The oppositional imagery in this scene punctuates the meaning of the story about the vital importance of holding onto at least a little slice of one’s childhood innocence.
