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Chapter Eight
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
The captain is at the door, and he’s very upset. Once Michael has gotten him the spell, Michael returns to his spell and Sophie mends her stockings. Sophie needs new clothes, but she’s too afraid to cut into Howl’s ruined suit to make herself something. After a while, Michael asks how many nieces Sophie has. He’s clearly agitated as he rips up pages of notes and says that his Lettie is far prettier than Mrs. Fairfax’s Lettie. Still worried for the real Lettie, Sophie asks if Howl could possibly be truly in love this time. Calcifer and Michael snort; they’ll believe Howl is in love when he doesn’t spend hours in the bathroom before seeing a girl. Sophie realizes they’re right.
Howl still seems intimidating to Sophie now that he’s proved he’s a real wizard, so she simply assumes that he wouldn’t approve of her trying to make some new clothes for herself. That Michael is so willing to confide in Sophie, meanwhile, highlights how close the two are becoming. And Michael and Calcifer show Sophie how well they know Howl when they insist that it’ll be really obvious when he’s in love. They do, however, speak in a tone that suggests they don’t expect Howl to genuinely fall in love anytime soon.
Themes
Working up her courage, Sophie cuts into Howl’s ruined suit to make herself a patchwork skirt. When Michael burns pages of notes, it becomes clear he’s struggling with his spell. He begins combining things like soot, an odd root, and a swirling seashell he picks up in Porthaven. As Michael fiddles with ingredients, he says he feels bad about spying on Howl, since Howl has been so kind to him. He explains that his parents died a few years ago, and he started sleeping in Howl’s Porthaven doorway. Eventually he fell inside, started talking to Calcifer, and six months later, Howl took him on as an apprentice. Calcifer notes that during that first conversation, Michael just dumped all his troubles on Calcifer, with no thought for the demon’s troubles—and Calcifer does have troubles.
Finally, Michael gives Sophie some insight into his own backstory. He paints Howl as a difficult figure, but one who is still extremely kind and caring—he took Michael in when he was orphaned, after all. And now Michael has a career ahead of him as a magician, thanks to the apprenticeship. Calcifer’s addition to Michael’s story adds some depth to Calcifer’s character. Michael speaks in such a way that it seems like he doesn’t see Calcifer as a three-dimensional being, with problems of his own. He may be kind to Calcifer, but Calcifer implies that few people, if anyone, see him for who he truly is.
Themes
Michael says he thinks he has been helpful with money—Howl spends so much on clothes. Calcifer watches Sophie lay out a skirt cut from suit pieces, and Michael points out that Howl is really just bad with money. Last winter they had no wood, and Howl bought the skull and the guitar with the last of their money. Howl took wood from someone who supposedly owed him money, and they ate seaweed. By now, Michael is chalking a pentagram on the floor—and the spell explodes.
Howl might be kind to Michael, but Michael implies that it’s impossible to know how kind Howl is to other people—Howl might’ve stolen the wood. And Howl continues to seem pretty selfish as he prioritizes purchasing the skull and the guitar over feeding his household and keeping everyone warm. Still, Michael’s assessment of Howl’s character is pretty nuanced: Howl is kind and generous, if a bit selfish at times.
Themes
Michael asks Sophie if she could help him with the spell. The paper he gives her is strangely shiny. The spell reads: “Go and catch a falling star, / Get with child a mandrake root, / Tell me where all past years are, / Or who cleft the Devil’s foot. / Teach me to hear the mermaids singing, / Or to keep off envy’s stinging, / And find / What wind / Serves to advance an honest mind.” Then, it tells the magician to decide what the spell is about and write a second verse. Sophie is extremely confused, and Michael’s attempts to explain his reasoning don’t help. She says it looks like a list of impossible tasks. Michael insists it must be possible, and he needs to impress Howl.
Readers may be familiar with Michael’s “spell”: it’s a poem by 17th-century poet John Donne, and it is, as Sophie suggests, a list of impossible tasks. It’s impossible to tell at this point whether John Donne’s work exists in Ingary, or whether Sophie and Michael are fully in the dark about what they’re working with. Either way, Michael insists on looking at the spell/poem in one very particular way—and seemingly because he refuses to wonder if he should approach it a different way, he fails to assemble the spell correctly.
Themes
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Sophie and Michael spend hours arguing over the spell and making notes. Finally, after dinner, Sophie suggests they take the seven-league boots and try to catch a falling star. Just as they’re about to leave the castle, the skull starts chattering and Calcifer begs them not to leave. They go anyway and hike toward the marshes outside of Porthaven. Then, they stand and watch for a star. It takes hours before they finally spot one and zip after it. Michael gets close to the star, which seems afraid and has big eyes and a pointed face. But it becomes terrified when Sophie approaches. It says it would rather die than be caught and flings itself into a pool of water, where it sizzles and dies. Sighing, Michael helps Sophie home. He decides he can’t work the spell. Fortunately, he says, Howl will be helpful now that Lettie’s giving in.
The poem might be a list of impossible tasks, but at least one is theoretically possible to accomplish in Ingary: catching a fallen star. It's interesting that Calcifer begs Sophie and Michael not to go—and that the falling star’s appearance seems to resemble Calcifer’s. The chattering skull also seems like a warning that catching a falling star isn’t something Sophie and Michael should try to do. Seeing the star die like this is sad, and it puts a damper on Michael’s willingness to keep trying to decode the spell. He isn’t afraid to be vulnerable in front of Howl and ask for help.
Themes
