How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Martha rocked on her stool, grinning all over Lettie's face, twirling her thumbs in a happy pink whirl. "I want to get married and have ten children."
"You're not old enough!" said Sophie.
"Not quite, Martha agreed. "But you can see I've got to start quite soon in order to fit ten children in. And this way gives me time to wait and see if the person I want likes me for being me. The spell's going to wear off gradually, and I shall get more and more like myself, you see." (2.10-12)
Sophie has a really rigid view of home life according to the fairytale rules of Ingary. Her upbringing makes Sophie believe that since Martha is the youngest daughter of three, it's Martha's job to go off and have adventures. And Martha's not interested in adventures: she wants a husband and ten children. There is an interesting reversal here that, according to the clichés of fairytales, Martha's desire to settle down and have a family is actually more transgressive and rebellious than becoming a witch's apprentice would be.
Quote #2
Night was coming on and the castle just sat and blew smoke at her. "I'll speak to Howl about this!" [Sophie] said, and set off fiercely to the next corner. There was no barrier there—evidently you had to go round the castle anticlockwise—but there, a bit sideways in the next wall, was a third door. This one was much smaller and shabbier.
"The back door at last!" Sophie said. (3.8-9)
As Sophie first approaches the moving castle, there is already a difference between the castle's reputation—what Howl wants people to believe about it—and what is actually true. Sophie first tries the two imposing, black fake doors, but the only real door that she can go in and out of is the small back door. And in fact, that humbleness of the real castle is really consistent with the ordinary home life that Sophie enjoys there (give or take a fire demon or two).
Quote #3
There were a number of probably wizardly things hanging from the beams—strings of onions, bunches of herbs, and bundles of strange roots. There were also definitely wizardly things, like leather books, crooked bottles, and an old, brown, grinning human skull. On the other side of the boy was a fireplace with a small fire burning in the grate. It was a much smaller fire than all the smoke outside suggested, but then this was obviously only a back room in the castle. Much more important to Sophie, this fire had reached the glowing rosy stage, with little blue flames dancing on the logs, and placed beside it in the warmest position was a low chair with a cushion on it. (3.17)
The wizardly things in Howl's moving castle make it obvious that this is a wizard's home—our kitchens are woefully lacking in "leather books, crooked bottles, and an old, brown, grinning human skull." But the important point is not what's different in this description of a kitchen, but what's the same: this is clearly the warm heart of the castle. The rosy fire, the low chair next to it—this is a warm, comforting space for Sophie to build up her confidence.