How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #10
"The only chance I had of coming at Prince Justin was to use that curse she'd put on me to get near her."
"So you were going to rescue the Prince!" Sophie shouted. "Why did you pretend to run away? To deceive the Witch?"
"Not likely!" Howl yelled. "I'm a coward. Only way I can do something this frightening is to tell myself I'm not doing it!"
Oh dear! Sophie thought, looking round at the swirling grit. He's being honest! And this is a wind. The last bit of the curse has come true! (21.57-60)
It's nice to know that Howl is working hard to trick himself out of being a coward. But isn't this deeply illogical? If you know you're a coward and you think of strategies to overcome that cowardice and fight the things you fear anyway—doesn't that make you not a coward? Howl is such a great hero: he turns out to have the traits that a fairytale protagonist is supposed to have—including courage, cleverness, handsomeness, and kindness—yet he has so many flaws that it takes us some time to see what makes him worthwhile underneath.
The book gives us time to get to know Howl, in the same way that you get to know anybody, and that time makes him seem much more familiar and personal as a character to us than some flat, two-dimensional Prince Charming.