an object · in general
A bell is a small machine for converting an event into sound — a hand to a rope to a clapper to a bronze body to the air. The event is ordinarily a person's decision to ring the bell. Occasionally it is the wind.
This page is not any particular bell. It is the abstract bell, presented for reference. The named bells of the labyrinth are in the wing. Some are cast brass, some iron, some only the idea of a bell, hung where a bell once was.
field note · a bell is one of the few objects whose meaning is largely independent of who hears it. it rings whether the church is full or empty.