The novel Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones follows the adventures of a timid and talented hatter named Sophie and the fantastical friends she makes along the way. Elements of magic are starkly contrasted by a glimpse at the “real world” as perceived by foreign eyes, and themes of romance slowly unfurl throughout a text that leisurely explores and develops each character individually. The author strays from prescriptivist writing conventions, embracing the dramatic freedom of voice to communicate personality to her audience.
The overall tone of the excerpt conveys a sense of hesitation and exploration. Sophie leads the audience through an informative search of the premises, cataloguing what can be found behind each door of the castle…show more content… The audience experiences the setting of Howl’s castle through Sophie’s eyes, subject to the extent of her reasoning abilities. When Sophie initially shrinks away from using the DRYING POWER, which uses all capital letters to denote that it is a labeled product, the “otherness” of the nondescript solution is thus emphasized. The word “power” can easily be confused with “powder”, and upon closer inspection it raises questions as to the nature and properties of the item while simultaneously signifying that they are likely magical. Colloquial terms and jargon such as “higgledy-piggledy” and “poky” aid in eliciting an easy, conversational feel. Rich imagery paints a picture of a castle that is nearly decrepit with “dusty velvet cloaks”, “rickety wooden stairs”, “decay”, and heaps and stacks of discarded scrap items piled high in a brick-walled backyard. While the story itself is written as a third-person narrative, the invisible speaker does not employ their ultimate omniscience to divulge extra information to the reader. The audience is instead forced to experience the world through Sophie’s limited knowledge, and draw conclusions based on comparisons between what is witnessed through her actions and other works dealing with similar concepts.
Diana Wynne Jones’s fictional novel Howl’s Moving Castle approaches complex topics with common language
