The Polar Express
Metaphor is used to introduce the train. That train is called the Polar Express. It is described by the narrator as being “wrapped in an apron of steam.” This is a metaphorical image. There is no actual apron. It is a figurative description of the narrator’s perception of what the smoke looks like hanging in the air.
A Fun Ride
Once the train picks up speed, language references another type of comfort zone for kids. “Faster and faster we ran along, rolling over peaks and through valleys like a car on a roller coaster.” If the gentle suggestion of the comfort of domesticity is enough to allay fears about the sudden appearance of a locomotive, this simile takes things in the opposite direction but for the same effect. A rollercoaster is scary but in a safe way. The train is thus situated as something that may give an exciting sense of danger, but without any significant odds of actually putting its juvenile passengers in danger.
Higher and Higher
As the train climbs higher and higher, it moves well past the realm of realism and into a sphere of pure imagination. “We climbed mountains so high it seemed as if we would scrape the moon.” The farther away from the narrator’s bedroom that the train gets and the closer it moves to the North Pole, the more fantastical the imagery becomes. The use of simile here conveys not just great height, but an impossible height. Since the whole point of the story is about opening up to believe in the impossible, this is an example of specific language contributing to the overall theme.
Climate Change
The movement northward is also a movement through climate change. Things grow much colder, and the metaphorical imagery is directed toward this change. “We crossed a barren desert of ice — the Great Polar Ice Cap. Lights appeared in the distance. They looked like the lights of a strange ocean liner sailing on a frozen sea.” Those lights may resemble a giant ship, but they turn out to be anything. Not only is the figurative language directed toward the intensification of the change in climate, but the lights themselves are also the beacons of the coldest occupied place on the planet: Santa’s headquarters at the North Pole.
The Loss of the Bell
The narrator is chosen by Santa to receive the first official gift of Christmas. When asked what he wants, the boy does not even hesitate because what he wants is the thing mentioned in the very first paragraph. He asks for and receives one of the silver bells from Santa’s sleigh. The tone produced when rung is the most beautiful sound he has ever heard. Little wonder then that he discovers it has fallen through a hole in his pocket and is now lost somewhere back at the North Pole, his emotional response is “It broke my heart to lose the bell.” This iconic metaphorical image encapsulating grief and loss easily marks this moment as the saddest in the story. There will be another moment of sadness to come, but the heartbreak, fortunately, lasts only until the next morning.
