The Bell Bandit

The bell on Lovell’s Hill symbolizes community, stability, and joy. For all of Jessie’s life, New Year’s Eve has been spent at Grandma’s house, climbing to the top of Lovell’s Hill near midnight and gathering among neighbors and sometimes even strangers to sing songs and talk about the past year. Jessie describes the tradition’s culmination at midnight: “[T]he youngest one in the crowd and the oldest one, too, would step forward and both take hold of the rope [...] and at precisely the right moment, they would ring in the New Year, as loudly and joyously and for as long as they wanted” (6). Bringing the youngest and the oldest in the community together to ring the bell symbolizes the circle of life within the community and the importance of passing on traditions and feeling connected through generations.

The tradition is even more important this year because of all the changes in Jessie and Evan’s lives, most notably Grandma’s memory loss. Jessie fondly recalls the year that she was the youngest in the group and how it felt to ring the bell: “They had swung the rope back and forth, over and over, until the noise of the bell filled the snow-covered valley below and the echoes of each peal [...] came racing back to them, like an old faithful dog that always comes home” (6). In describing the peal of the bell as a faithful dog that always comes home, Jessie expresses how the bell symbolizes a sense of stability, dependability, and familiarity that she seeks. When everything else feels in flux, Jessie clings to the tradition of the New Year’s Eve bell ringing because she feels it will remain a constant during difficult changes.

The bell itself is also an important symbol of community because of its origins. Jessie asks Grandma to tell her again about the history of the bell, and she explains, “My great-grandfather put it there to call the neighbors in case of an emergency” (55). People have historically used the bell to gather and alert community members to major events. The fact that Grandma’s great-grandfather placed the bell on the hill connects Grandma to the bell.

When the bell goes missing, Evan and Jessie feel its impact even greater because of the changes in Grandma and this year’s visit. When Evan climbs Lovell’s Hill and sees the bell is missing, he thinks, “Evan felt as though he had never seen a space so empty as the place where the bell was supposed to hang” (73). With the weight of the bell’s absence, the space looks even emptier because the object and the joy it represents are missing. Without the bell, the community tradition cannot take place, and missing the event would further fracture Evan and Jessie’s sense of stability and the usual joy they feel this time of year. It would be yet another marker that their lives are changing. The connection between Grandma and the bell solidifies further when Grandma goes missing after getting confused on a walk.

Even though Jessie and Evan find both Grandma and the bell, Mrs. Treski and Grandma decide to stay home from the bell ringing due to the stress of the day. The tradition carries on, but Evan acknowledges that it feels different this year because “It didn’t feel like New Year’s Eve without Grandma” (167). Grandma’s arrival is a welcome surprise, a sign that Evan and Jessie can still depend on some traditions. Still, Grandma subverts tradition when she invites Maxwell, Evan, and Jessie to join her in ringing the bell alongside Pete’s baby daughter, Kayley. In doing so, she illustrates that communities can change or amend traditions to better suit their needs. When Jessie challenges Grandma’s wishes to break with tradition, Grandma responds: “I don’t care! [...] This year I want something different’” (171). Grandma, the eldest in the community that year, empowers subsequent generations to remain flexible in their thinking and to adapt as necessary. The bell-ringing ceremony is still an important symbol of community, but one that reflects the community as it evolves and develops.