How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
They opened the flower shop the next day. As Howl had pointed out, it could not have been simpler. Every early morning, all they had to do was to open the door with the knob purple-down and go out into the swimming green haze to gather flowers. It soon became a routine. Sophie took her stick and her scissors and stumped about, chatting to her stick, using it to test the squashy ground or hook down sprays of high-up choice roses. Michael took an invention of his own which he was very proud of. It was a large tin tub with water in it, which floated in the air and followed Michael wherever he went among the bushes. The dog-man went too. He had a wonderful time rushing about the wet green lanes, chasing butterflies or trying to catch the tiny, bright birds that fed on the flowers. (18.1)
This whole sequence with the flower shop is so nice. Howl is just waiting for the Witch's curse to take effect. Sophie is still living as a ninety-year-old woman. The dog-man can't stay human for longer than ten seconds before he goes back to being a dog. But in spite of the stress that the moving castle household is currently living under, Sophie, Michael, and the dog-man all seem to be happily puttering around with the flowers, taking joy in these day-to-day tasks, even if they are worried about their long-term futures.
Quote #8
"There's no Mr. Sullivan here," Sophie said. And she thought, That's Wizard Suliman's name! I don't believe a word of it!
"Oh, I know that," Miss Angorian said. "But this feels like the right place. Do you mind if I just look round a little to give myself some idea of the sort of life Ben's leading now?" She hooked her sheet of black hair behind one ear and tried to walk further into the room. Sophie stood in the way. (18.44-45)
The bluntness that comes with Sophie's old age to some degree frees her from a sense of social obligation, and she doesn't seem to feel all that bad about basically shoving Miss Angorian back out the door when she arrives with her sob story about her lost fiancé, Ben Sullivan. Unfortunately, Sophie's newfound social freedom does not go quite far enough, and Miss Angorian manages to leave a part of herself in Howl's guitar.
But still we admire how much freedom Sophie appears to feel to be as rude as she wants to now that she is old enough not to care so much about social convention.
Quote #9
Calcifer retreated until he was bent backward against the chimney. "You never asked," he said.
"Do I have to ask you?" Howl said. "All right, I should have noticed myself! But you disgust me, Calcifer! Compared with the way the Witch treats her demon, you live a revoltingly easy life, and all I ask in return is that you tell me things I need to know. This is twice you've let me down! Now help me get this creature to its own shape this minute."
Calcifer was an unusually sickly shade of blue. "All right," he said sulkily. (19.19-21)
When Calcifer first explains about being a falling star to Sophie, he mentions that Howl offered to make a contract with him because Calcifer didn't want to die and Howl "was sorry for [him]" (17.29). But of course, it's not like Howl isn't getting anything out of this contract—Calcifer is a magical being, and he has contributed his magic to Howl's daily wizardly activities.
We wonder how much magic Calcifer will be doing for the moving castle now that his contract is broken and he is free to pick and choose his own activities. Luckily, there are two other books that follow this one—Castle in the Air (1990) and The House of Many Ways (2008)—that may help us to answer that question.