Howl's Moving Castle Sparknotes

Written as a modern ode to fairy tales, Diana Wynne Jones’s 1986 Howl’s Moving Castle follows the eldest sister of three, Sophie Hatter, in a land where magic is commonplace as she takes up company with a capricious wizard after having been cursed into an old woman. Throughout the story, the heroine must reckon with her preconceived notions of the world around her as she is transformed physically and spiritually and therefore the readers are challenged to question their own lives. The tools taught in this course allows readers to have a better understanding the structural norms, and distinguish where Jones brilliantly creates an almost reverse Beauty and the Beast tale in order to render a story palatable for modern readers. Perhaps, the greatest analytical tool which helps
In a land where seven leagues boots and malicious witches exist, Sophie believes, as the eldest sister, her life will not amount to much adventure while her younger sisters will go off to seek their fortune. In true fairy tale tradition, an act of villainy, cursed into an old lady by a witch, spins the heroine into her journey where a magical donor appears in the form of a fire demon, who will exchange his help for hers, and eventually ends in “marriage”, in which Sophie and a melodramatic wizard decide to continue to live together. Events and actions that may appear to be out of place are actually justified after an understanding of the fairy tale structure. Furthermore, without the background knowledge of common fairy tale motifs, Sophie’s hangups, including the insecurity generated from her position as the eldest, do not appear to be justified. Also, the Feminist perspective is extremely informative on how Jones mitigates the damages of negative portrayals of women. Underneath the magic, an insecure, young women finds her place in a magical world and gains confidence. Sophie actually utilizes the act of villainy as an