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Sophie’s walking stick represents Sophie’s coming of age process, particularly as she develops self-confidence. When Sophie first finds her stick, she’s recently been turned into an elderly woman and needs the stick for mobility reasons. The stick is, at this point, something that props Sophie up when she’s weaker than usual—and when she’s at a low spot emotionally as well, as she believes she’s destined to fail due to being the eldest of three children. However, unbeknownst to Sophie, she has the power to “talk life” into things, and she talks life into her stick over the course of the novel. This eventually turns it into what Mrs. Pentstemmon says is some approximation of a magic wand: it’s a magical, almost sentient thing in its own right. By this point in the novel, Sophie accepts that she’s powerful and has the ability to talk life into things, such as her stick, which now symbolizes her growing self-confidence. During the novel’s final battle between Sophie, Howl, and Miss Angorian, Sophie fully comes into her own and fully accepts her own power—and she discovers that she can be successful, if only she thinks about what she’s doing. And when Howl causes the stick to vanish during the battle (and when Sophie then reverts to her teenage self), it symbolizes that Sophie has come of age and learned to accept that she’s powerful, competent, and can stand on her own two feet, without a magic wand or a walking stick.
Sophie’s Walking Stick Quotes in Howl’s Moving Castle
The Howl’s Moving Castle quotes below all refer to the symbol of Sophie’s Walking Stick. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter Twelve
Quotes
She had said Sophie was a witch. Oddly enough, Sophie accepted this without any trouble at all. That explained the popularity of certain hats, she thought. It explained Jane Farrier’s Count Whatsit. It possibly explained the jealousy of the Witch of the Waste. It was as if Sophie had always known this. But she had thought it was not proper to have a magic gift because she was the eldest of three.
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Chapter Twenty-One
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Sophie raised her stick, slowly and gently. This time she thought for an instant before she acted. “Stick,” she muttered. “Beat Miss Angorian, but don’t hurt anyone else.” Then she swung the stick and hit Miss Angorian’s tight knuckles the biggest crack she could.
Miss Angorian let out a squealing hiss like a wet log burning and dropped Calcifer. Poor Calcifer rolled helplessly on the floor, flaming sideways across the flagstones and roaring huskily with terror. Miss Angorian raised a foot to stamp on him. Sophie had to let go of her stick and dive to rescue Calcifer. Her stick, to her surprise, hit Miss Angorian again on its own, and again, and again. But of course it would! Sophie thought. She had talked life into that stick.
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He stood up in a hurry. He held out one hand and spoke a sentence of those words that lost themselves in claps of thunder. Plaster fell from the ceiling. Everything trembled. But the stick vanished and Howl stepped back with a small, hard, black thing in his hand.
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Get the entire Howl’s Moving Castle LitChart as a printable PDF.
Sophie’s Walking Stick Symbol Timeline in Howl’s Moving Castle
The timeline below shows where the symbol Sophie’s Walking Stick appears in Howl’s Moving Castle. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter Two
...country lanes and enjoys the warm day. Sophie keeps an eye out for a walking stick and thinks she finds one—but it’s just an abandoned scarecrow with a turnip as a...
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Sophie tells the stick she’s had two encounters now, and she expects a third. The third one comes late...
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...that she should be safe because Wizard Howl only hunts young girls, Sophie waves her stick at the castle and shrieks for it to stop. To her immense satisfaction, it obeys.
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Chapter Three
...reaches it, the castle moves away. Sophie runs after it, hits the door with her stick, and shouts for it to open. It does. Sophie barely manages to haul herself inside...
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Chapter Seven
...to warn Martha about Howl. She’s still sore the next morning, but she grabs her stick and prepares to leave while Howl is primping in the bathroom. He emerges before Sophie...
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Chapter Twelve
...then, Howl emerges from the bathroom. He grudgingly allows Sophie to take her “awful old stick” with her, and then he escorts Sophie and Michael into Kingsbury. It’s extremely hot, and...
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...her “maternal feelings” and her magical gift. It brings things to life, such as her stick—which is now a sort of magic wand. Sophie is flustered, but Mrs. Pentstemmon closes her...
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Chapter Thirteen
...in Market Chipping. Sophie tells herself she’s not afraid; after all, Mrs. Pentstemmon said her stick is magic now. But as the ladies pass each other, the Witch laughs at Sophie...
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Chapter Twenty-One
Everyone but Sophie chases the scarecrow. Sophie grabs her stick and runs into the shop, muttering that Howl won’t forgive her for letting Miss Angorian...
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...area, though now she’s tall, skinny, and blond. She backs away when Sophie brandishes her stick, but then the Witch waves her hands. The page boys turn into sticky blobs that...
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...Witch, the Witch says she’ll make him obey because she’ll control Calcifer. Sophie waves her stick, so the Witch snaps that she’s worked very hard to lure everyone out here. She’s...
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...wanders away. Sophie thinks the Witch is losing her mind. She begins to try to unstick herself by waving her stick at the orange stuff, and it starts to work. Suddenly,...
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...that Howl isn’t faking; his heart is soft. Thinking before she acts, Sophie tells her stick to beat only Miss Angorian and to hurt no one else. She hits Miss Angorian’s...
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...with Prince Justin’s body over its shoulders, fits itself into the doorway. By now, Sophie’s stick is flaming and Miss Angorian pulls Michael in front of her, so the stick stops...
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...about Miss Angorian, who is trying to burn Martha and the scarecrow with Sophie’s burning stick. Howl speaks more odd words and after a clap of thunder, the stick is gone,...
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