Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Howl’s Moving Castle, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Destiny vs. Free Will
Appearances and Assumptions
Family
Magic and Coming of Age
Summary
Analysis
A four-horse carriage, complete with numerous attendants, takes Sophie to the castle’s Kingsbury entrance. This is because Valeria crawled onto Sophie’s lap, and remembering that the Witch had threatened the baby, Sophie told Valeria that she wouldn’t let the Witch hurt her. The King heard and ordered the carriage. Michael emerges from the castle to greet Sophie, saying that Howl is very upset about Mrs. Pentstemmon. Howl steps out too and once the carriage is gone, he asks what Sophie did to the King. Sophie tells Howl and Michael about meeting the Witch. Howl laughs about being the new Royal Wizard, but he’s mostly upset about Mrs. Pentstemmon. He has to attend her funeral without the Witch knowing he’s there.
That the King orders Sophie the carriage highlights how terrified everyone is of the Witch right now. Anyone who openly speaks out against her, like Sophie does here, immediately becomes an ally and someone to trust or take care of. Once Sophie gets home, though, nobody seems all that interested in what she did or didn’t do for Howl. Howl is grieving and so his attention is elsewhere, but it also seems possible that Howl sent Sophie on these errands for other reasons. Put another way, perhaps the outcome of Sophie’s meetings was less important to Howl than he made it seem.
Themes
Michael, on the other hand, is terrified of the Witch. When he wakes up, he’s concerned to discover that Howl went out without his guitar after spending hours in the bathroom, and that Calcifer doesn’t know where he went. Calcifer warns Michael and Sophie to not let anyone in (since the Witch knows about all the entrances but the Porthaven one), so Michael bars the door. A half-hour later, the knob turns black-down and someone bangs at the door—and just after Michael hides, Howl bursts in, dripping wet and angry. Sophie is sure he’s been with Miss Angorian. He assures Michael that he cast protective spells and asks Sophie for a hot drink. Sophie refuses and asks if Howl is going to ignore Lettie now that he’s pursuing Miss Angorian. Howl makes his own drink and ignores Sophie for the rest of the morning.
Howl continues to rule life in the castle. He can come and go where and when he wants—and he expects that everyone else simply adjust to whatever it is he wants to do. This heightens Sophie’s anger at him. Sophie might fear for Lettie’s wellbeing if Howl is courting Lettie, but Sophie also doesn’t want her sister’s heart to break. So under the current circumstances, it seems better to her to try to convince Howl to stay loyal to Lettie, rather than just going along with Howl’s whims. Recall too that Sophie also sees Miss Angorian as a victim, which highlights that Sophie still sees Howl as an antagonist.
Themes
Sophie works on Howl’s blue and silver suit while Howl and Michael discuss moving the castle—she has to get him out of his charmed suit soon. Howl blows his nose often as he talks about wanting to close up most of the castle’s entrances and relocate the moving castle, though he insists the black door stays put. Sophie sniffs—Miss Angorian is there. As the day progresses, Howl refuses to answer the door for anyone and conjures handkerchiefs for himself more and more often. His voice becomes hoarse and finally, he laments that he always gets a cold when he goes to Wales. Sophie sniffs that people who run away to go courting rather than following the King’s instructions deserve colds.
Though Sophie immediately assumes that Howl wants to keep the door to Wales because of Miss Angorian, this is impossible to verify. After all, Howl’s family is in Wales—and Howl has a close and loving relationship with Mari, despite his fraught relationships with Megan and Neil. Sophie may be underestimating Howl’s loyalty to and love of his blood family. Looking down on him for this reason also makes her way less sympathetic when Howl comes down with a cold.
Themes
At this, Howl explains he looked for Prince Justin right after he disappeared. Justin, Howl explains, bought finding spells from him and from Mrs. Fairfax, but they were duds—and he couldn’t figure out why Justin was poking around here, when he was supposedly looking for Suliman in the Waste. By now, Howl looks awful. He announces that he’s going to bed and he might die; he’d like to be buried next to Mrs. Pentstemmon. Sophie turns back to the suit, realizing that Howl must’ve been looking for Justin when he met Lettie in Upper Folding and got distracted. When she discovers that the suit is getting smaller and smaller as she sews, Michael offers to share an enlarging spell later.
Keep in mind that while Mrs. Fairfax is implied to be a less competent witch, nobody has said anything but wonderful things about Howl’s magical abilities. So, it should raise suspicions that even Howl’s finding spell for Prince Justin was a dud—somebody may be missing some important piece of information. Broadly speaking, Howl shares this information to impress upon Sophie that he’s not a terrible person who shirks responsibility for fun. He tried, but at this point, he doesn’t think he can find Justin or Suliman.
Themes
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Michael spends the day running up and down the stairs, bringing Howl food and attending to his every whim. At midday, Howl sends Michael to Market Chipping for something to help move the castle; Michael puts on a cloak from the closet, which transforms him into a burly man. While Michael is gone, Howl is silent. Sophie realizes that she has the chance now to go see Lettie, but she can’t find the seven-league boots in the closet—Howl must’ve hidden them. As Sophie is putting things back in the closet, someone thumps at the door. Calcifer worriedly says it’s not the Witch or the scarecrow; it’s someone alive, it wants to get in, and it doesn’t mean harm. Sophie puts on the other disguise cloak to open the door, and Calcifer laughs at her.
The disguise cloaks again highlight that nothing in Ingary is as it seems. By extension, this should encourage Sophie to not judge people and other beings based on her assumptions. Sophie begins to do this somewhat when she trusts Calcifer about the guest at the door. Rather than looking outside and making a snap judgment herself, she lets him give her information that guides her choice to open the door. But nothing being as it seems isn’t all serious: readers don’t know what Sophie’s disguise cloak looks like, but Calcifer’s laugh makes it clear that it’s funny.
Themes
Sophie opens the door and a massive greyhound leaps into the castle. Sophie watches cautiously as the dog stands on its hind legs—and becomes a red-headed man. Panting, he says Lettie sent him. She’s unhappy and sent him to stay with Sophie. Yelping at Sophie to not tell Howl, he transforms into a red setter. Sophie asks the miserable dog-man if he was the collie at Mrs. Fairfax’s house, and says she understands now. She says the Witch deserves to be punished and promises not to tell Howl. Sophie figures the dog-man is Lettie’s other lover, and that Lettie sent him here so Howl’s new witch could turn him back into a human. Calcifer says he can’t lift the dog-man’s spell himself, so Sophie tries to do it. It doesn’t work; the dog just falls asleep.
Keep in mind that the dog-man only says a few concrete things: that he came from Lettie, who’s unhappy; and that he doesn’t want Howl to know who he is. Everything else Sophie thinks about him is made up—and, perhaps, not entirely true. Nevertheless, it’s a sign that Sophie is maturing and becoming more self-confident that she tries to lift the dog-man’s spell on her own. Even though she isn’t successful, she still realizes that she is powerful and should try to use her powers to help people when she can.
Themes
Upstairs, Howl begins to moan and groan dramatically. Sophie ignores him until he wails so loudly that one of Calcifer’s logs rolls onto the hearth. When Sophie enters Howl’s bedroom, he informs her that he’s dying of boredom. Sophie finally gets a good look at his room: it’s covered in dust and crawling with spiders. Howl laments pathetically that there is no cure for a cold, and he keeps ruminating on the Witch’s curse. He explains that almost everything in the curse has already come true; now, he’s just waiting for mermaids, the mandrake roots, and for the wind to “advance an honest mind.” He won’t remove his hair dye to see if his hair is white. The spell will come true in three weeks, and then the Witch will get him. But at least he’ll get to go to the Rugby Club Reunion on Midsummer Eve.
Howl might not be as evil as Sophie initially thought he was, but that’s not to say he isn’t dramatic and selfish. He expects Sophie to somehow entertain him, and he’ll make life difficult until she does. Really, it seems like Howl just wants someone to talk to him as he ruminates. The Witch’s curse is clearly weighing on his mind, which makes Howl look vulnerable—someone, at least, is able to frighten Howl and make him worry for the next little while. Listening to Howl think out loud gives Sophie more insight into who Howl is when his guard is down, potentially altering her vision of him.
Themes
Sophie asks if it’s true, then, that Howl caught a falling star and can’t find a “woman true and fair.” She says she isn’t surprised about Howl’s romantic troubles; after all, Mrs. Pentstemmon said he was turning bad. Howl laments that Mrs. Pentstemmon always thought better of him than she should’ve, but Sophie pulls the conversation back on track and asks why Howl keeps dropping women once they love him. Howl doesn’t answer. He says he keeps trying, but he made a deal years ago and can’t love anyone “properly” now.
Howl seems to agree with Sophie that he is bad (rather than with Mrs. Pentstemmon saying he’s turning bad). But he also suggests he’s not entirely at fault, at least when it comes to his dealings with women: this deal he refers to keeps him from connecting with women. He’s vague about what this deal is, but it’s possible that he’s referring to his contract with Calcifer. This may be one more way that the contract isn’t helping either Howl or Calcifer.
Themes
Suddenly, the dog-man enters the room and leans on Sophie, shoving her toward the window. Sophie tells Howl this is her new dog and looks out the window, which looks onto Megan’s backyard and Mari swinging on a swing set. Howl laughs; he thought he could keep Sophie from snooping. Annoyed, Sophie pushes the dog out of the room and leaves, snapping that she empathizes with Megan.
Seeing that Howl’s window looks onto Megan’s backyard is an eye-opening moment for Sophie. Sure, Howl might be courting Miss Angorian in Wales—but Howl’s true loyalty, it seems, is to his sister and her family. Even if he can’t be there all the time for whatever reason, looking into her backyard allows him to feel present and like he’s part of the family.
Themes
