Howl's Moving Castle, Chapters 11-15

[Prof. Sky Alton]

I make that 4 horses and 10 men just to get rid of one old woman. What did you do to the king?

Here we’ll be discussing chapters 11 through 15 of Howl’s Moving Castle.

In these chapters, Sophie visits two locations beyond the Castle door for the first time. While Kingsbury is grand and strange, Jones attempts to make the world as we know it seem like the truly fantastical place, as that is how it appears to Sophie. Does she succeed? Do you find it interesting when authors try to show us how bizarre our world really is by showing it to us through the eyes of an outsider?

One magic unique to our world is spoiler tags: don’t forget them.

[Silas Hipolito Crist]

Catching a fallen star was so emotional- I really thought they were going to catch it. And when it was clear that there was no spell, just a poem; I was so sorry for the star then.<br>
Seeing Howl and other two visiting his sister and modern worldwas something different. Never expected that he even had any family, though.<br>
It was such a funny thing when Mrs. Pentstemmon dealed with Howl in such a rude way; obviously he is not so respected by everyone. No surprise that the suit Howl was using is full of magic; such an unhonorable action. Imagine that he was trained by Mrs. Pentstemmon herself and was the last pupil that she had trained (such an interesting fact that Sullivan was also Mrs. Pentstemmon student). She said that he was taught for a good wizard and now he was acting totally different.<br>
After time I finally noticed that even Sophie had magic gift as Mrs. Pentstemmon told; she was turning things into life with her touch.<br>
It is beautiful to see how much time and her strength did Sophie gave into helping Howl and doing the stuff in the castle, despite her old age.<br>
From being unimportant girl who is sewing hats together Sophie became something much stronger. I was literally proud on her, when she was talking with king.<br>
... wizard Howl comes from the Wales! Such a surprise....<br>

[Prof. Tarma Amelia Black]

Again, reading the book a second time I notice different things than the first time I read it.

I was sort of surprised aboutWales ... I was so into being in Howl and Sophia's world that it took me a moment to realize "All the boxes grew on long, floppy white stalks that appeared to be rooted in the wall at one side of the room." and "But Howl, quite unperturbed at killing his nephew, strode over to the wall and pulled the boxes up by the roots." was actually talking about video games!

Something which was extremely amusing to me was the growth of Howl's blue-and-silver suit. Yes, Sophie, you are a witch! Well done. Oh, yes, in this section she finds out (has confirmation) that she is indeed a witch.

I like dogs. I'm glad that a dog (well, dogs) came into the story! I'm wondering ... who are they though, really .... all of a sudden memories of the previous reading are crowding in and 'oh dear'.

I think Sophie did very well in her visits with Mrs. Penstemmon and the King. It's like the fake, false, shell, or mask of who she had been is dissolved almost entirely and she's allowing her true self to be present. And I think she likes, or is beginning to like -- and appreciate -- who her true self is.

[Shiloh Adlar]

I liked these chapters very much. Kingsbury was fine but seeing the modern world was really cool too. I do like when authors bring stuff like this in however it has to be done appropriately. I'm not sure how I feel about this one yet. Sometimes, bringing in the modern world can really take me out of the fantasy setting and ruin a book for me, but so far, it seems to work and has me curious to how all the worlds work together.

With the Kingsbury parts, I got really nervous when Sophie ran into the Witch of the Waste. She seems like such a horrible person, and I want to know more about this curse that is on Howl and how he is ten thousand years old??? Also the spiders. Why spiders of all creatures...?