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Zachary Stanke
Professor Lewis
English 115
December 10, 2015
Howls Moving Castle in Freuds Psychoanalytic Mind
It is rather difficult to begin talking about a story in which the main character goes on a
massive adventure through different dimensions, has multiple personas, and meets many new,
unique, and fascinating characters along the way. Nevertheless, all stories start somewhere, and
in Diana Wynne Jones beautiful novel Howls Moving Castle it begins with Sophie Hatter who is
the oldest of three girls, parented by a single mother. Sophie may seem like just an average
young lady with a natural talent for hat making, but when she is quite suddenly transformed into
an old lady and cursed into not being able to tell any body about this curse, only a hop, skip, and
jump into this book she grabs a ride on a moving castle with a fire demon named Calcifer, a
young apprentice named Michael, and a great wizard named Howl. Now reading this like any
other story would feel much like reading Peter Pan in which a boy takes a girl and a few other
companions on a journey to far off places doing righteous deeds and having a whole bunch of
silly fun along the way. However, from a psychoanalytic perspective, using many of Sigmund
Freuds theories, one can begin to understand and unravel some of the mysteries and questions
behind the characters and events in a ginormous adventure like Howls Moving Castle. In Howls
Moving Castle one can see examples of Freuds unconscious mind, psyche, defense mechanisms,
uncanny, and narcissistic theories played out in the text using characters, actions, and events as
prime models for exampling his psychoanalytic arguments and defining the characters.

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One of Freuds more simple theories is that of the unconscious, preconscious, and conscious mind. Although it was not he that first invented this idea in psychology, he expounded
upon its research first. Sigmund Freud determined that the conscious mind is that part of our
mind to which we mentally process everything and can make our own decisions of what to think
(Associated Press). The preconscious mind holds emotions and thoughts that we are not aware of
yet, but can easily be brought to our conscious mind like uttering the word home address and
then you immediately begin to think of your address. The unconscious mind is then composed of
mental processes that we can not control and can not be brought to our consciousness, yet still
influence and stores our decisions, motives, and feelings which are greatly influenced by our past
experiences (McLeod). As a visual representation you can think of the three components being a
part of an iceberg in which the conscious mind is visibly above the water, the preconscious mind
waits just below the surface, and the largest part of the iceberg and our minds is under the water
which does most of the work of keeping it afloat (De Sousa 212). A lot of these ideas can be applied to Howl and Sophies characters and show how and why they make their decisions.
For Sophie in her preconscious mind it can be deduced that the idea of her being the oldest child resides there constantly, In the land of Ingary [] it is quite a misfortune to be born
the eldest of three. Everyone knows you are the one who will fail first, and worst, if the three of
you set out to seek your fortunes (Jones 1). Anytime Sophie is reminded of her status this preconscious thought is then brought to her conscious mind which causes her to lose her self confidence, thinking that she is cursed either way to fail in life. Once she is transformed into an old
woman by the Wicked Witch of the Waste it becomes clear in her unconscious mind that once it
comes down it, it really does not matter wether or not you are cursed; you just have to make the

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best of it anyway. Sophie precedes to take charge of her life and those around her once she gets a
board Howls moving castle, I came because I'm your new cleaning lady, of course. Are you
indeed? Howl said [] Who says you are? I do, said Sophie (75). For Howl his preconscious mind is filled with his many different personas: Sorcerer Jenkin in Porthaven, Wizard
Pendragon in Kingsbury, Horrible Howell of the Moving Castle, and Howell Jenkins in Wales.
Whenever it comes time for him to interact with a customer or other official a persona comes to
his conscious mind and he acts accordingly. However in his unconscious mind lies a mix of emotions. First is his lady charming lust which he exploits with his unparalleled looks, If you knew
the trouble we've had because Howl will keep falling in love like this! (111). Second is his
slimy cowardly self which makes terrible decisions and tantrums whenever he gives up or feels
all hope is lost, Why did you pretend to run away? To deceive the Witch? Not likely! Howl
yelled. I'm a coward (415). Lastly is his kind and humble nature which comes to him whenever he helps someone in need and then chooses to ignore the recognition, Howl was equally patient and polite with customers from Porthaven, but, as Michael anxiously pointed out, the trouble was that Howl did not charge these people enough, more of a heroic act than trouble (104).
Within the varying consciousnesses of the mind are three symbolic behaviors that influence our
actions.
The idea of Freuds Psyche is broken down into three categories of the id, the ego, and
the superego (Associated Press). Starting with the id, it compares to the instinctive, primitive,
and otherwise unconscious part of a personality which responds directly to a persons instinct.
The ego is similar to the id in wanting to seek pleasure and avoid pain, but takes a more realistic
approach and instead tries to figure out a practical and less instinctive way of doing so. The

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superego on the other hand is developed to manage and control the id and its impulses while trying to get the ego to reach its goals using morals rather than just using reality, thus trying to
achieve perfection (McLeod). In Howls Moving Castle the characters within the castle perfectly
fit within these roles to help it function as an effective team. First is the id which is impulsive,
pretty much enough said there, Howl fits the bill and numerous times goes off and does what he
wants cause he can, cause he is a powerful wizard and all, which sometimes can hurt those
around him, How stupid! "Well, he's fickle, careless, selfish, and hysterical," she said. "Half the
time I think he doesn't care what happens to anyone as long as he's all right (Jones 245). The
ego is a combination of Michael and Calcifer which both try to manage Howl, yet do not do
much to persuade his decisions because he is their master, but they make sure that he does not
damage too much along that way Howl goes out through the back door and Calcifer and I have
to deal with them all (111). Then there is the superego in which Sophie also fits perfectly as the
moralistic compass for Howl and his crew teaching them to clean after themselves and helps
Howl to help others for the right reasons Tidying up is what Im here for! she shouted at
Howl (289). In order to defend and repress certain instinctual behaviors of the Id, Ego and
Superego our mind uses six different techniques.
The six defense mechanisms are originally a part of the mind and psyche and are broken
down into repression, denial, projection, displacement, regressions, and sublimation, All of
which Freud was convinced were ways people try to spare themselves emotional pain when confronted with stress, unpleasant truths or undesirable thoughts (Associated Press). The theory is
that the ego keeps away unwanted thoughts and ideas in the unconscious mind so that they never
reach the conscious mind by using these six mechanisms (McLeod). For starters Howl represses

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many of his secrets and fears within himself and deals with them so that others do not have to
worry, but as a result he is filled with anxiety which comes to light in his infamous green slime
tantrum scene. Sophie uses sublimation, which is displacing emotions into a constructive activity, by cleaning everything around the castle when she is irritated by Howls tantrum, disgusted
by how everything is handled, or is just plain bored, This state of mind did not last. Sophie discovered a pile of Michael's clothes that needed mending (Jones 118). Howl is denial much of
the time ashamed of the cold hearted, selfish person he sometimes acts like and even uses this
defense mechanism to his advantage, Only way I can do something this frightening is to tell
myself I'm not doing it! (415). When Howl is stresses he also acts out with regression by acting
like a little, primitive child by throwing his tantrum for example instead of dealing with it like an
adult, Stop it at once! You are behaving just like a baby, (119). When she fails at something
Sophie often projects her dissatisfaction towards those around her by blaming herself as being
the first born, Im the eldest! Sophie shrieked. Im a failure! Garbage! Howl shouted. You
just never stop to think! (416). Sophie also projects her anger towards inanimate objects like
her hats when she is irritated, What good are you all? she asked them. You certainly aren't
doing me a scrap of good (31). Little things in this story are a bit out of place like Sophie
yelling at her hats, which in the words of Freud is labeled as something uncanny.
The idea of Sigmund Freuds uncanny theory is that something familiar, wether it be an
object, person, place or just about anything, can have an adverse affect of making someone feel
very uncomfortable or stressed because the common something is put in an uncommon position
(De Sousa 215). Basically meaning regular things can just make someone feel weird like how
Sophie is frightened by the scare crow because it begins to move. Ironically anythings in the land

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of Ingary are uncanny to us. It would be normal more normal if Howl and his group were just
wizards in a castle, but instead the castle moves. Another type of uncanny behavior is how
Martha trades her position with Lettie by using a little bit of magic she learned because she is
scared of the nobility and power of that position. Howl also becomes paranoid of the uncanny
cursed objects he finds on the childs homework he gave to Michael as spell. These things in the
homework may just be pretty ordinary to Howl, but because of their position they become uncanny to him. Falling star, mandrake root, mermaids singing, envys sting, and wind all become
significant signs of his demise and thus he tries and avoids them like the plague:
Howl shot Michael an alarmed look and picked up the flower in its pot. He slide it out of
the pot into his hand, where he carefully separated the white, thready roots and the soot
and the remains of the manure spell, until he uncovered the brown, forked root Sophie
had grown it from. I might have guessed, he said. It's mandrake root. Sophie strikes
again. You do have a touch, don't you, Sophie? He put the plant carefully back, passed it
to Sophie, and went away, looking rather pale (Jones 341).
These items and events were in a misplaced homework assignment Howl comes across in a
strange misplacing, and Howl learns that these items, when he encounters them, signify a bad
omen of his destruction. Percival is also a very uncanny character who is a dog but turns into a
man at times. Howls behavior is also bit uncanny when his hair is accidentally turned to a different color by Sophies potion displacement and Howl in response starts to drown in a pool of
green slime, a bit over kill for such a silly mistake. Howls behavior however is not only uncanny
but extremely narcissistic.

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The last of Sigmund Freuds theories is a behavioral characteristic known as narcissism.
Narcissistic behavior is defined as having an excessive interest in oneself and ones physical appearance (De Sousa 210). This theory is most definitely tailored to one individual character in
Howls Moving Castle. None other than Howl himself, who throughout the entire novel battles
with his narcissistic behavior with help from Sophie. The most famous example of Howls narcissistic behavior coming to light is when Howl goes to the bathroom to enrich his hair with his
potions, right after Sophie had rearranged and cleaned the bathroom, I can clean the dirt from
this place even if I can't clean you from your wickedness, young man. (Jones 75). Howl had
just accidentally used the wrong potions for his hair because of Sophies rearrangement accidentally adding to it a hint of red throwing Howl into a terrible tantrum Sophie helps him out of,
For a plain man with mud-colored hair, hes terribly vain about his looks (114). Although Howl
is narcissistic about his self image he makes up for it with his generosity and kind hearted gestures which leads Sophie to fall in love with him, But then I find out how awfully kind hes
been to someone. Then I think hes kind just when it suits him only then I find out he undercharges poor people (245). Another great example of narcissism is in Diana Wynn Jones character the Witch of the Waste who throughout the novel holds a White Queen Snow White complex. The Witch of the Waste wants to be the most powerful and the prettiest in the land, so she
takes out people who defy her. Sophie is a danger of becoming more powerful than the Witch of
the Waste so in turn she turns Sophie into a seventy year old woman with a curse. This narcissism gets the better of her an eventually leads to her doom at the end of the novel when she tries
building the perfect man for her selfish self and ends up being defeated. Howl and Sophie now
feeling accomplished in defeating the bad guy and Howl offers a happily ever after to Sophie.

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Freuds psychoanalytic behavior theories help define many of the characters in Diana
Wynne Jones novel. The unconscious mind brings to light Howl and Sophies thought processes,
the moving castle functions much like that of the psyche with characters taking a different role
for its id, ego, and superego, Sophie and Howl both use defense mechanisms to hide their pain,
many uncanny things are seen in the marvelous world of Ingary, and a few characters deal with
overly narcissistic behavior. Sophie and Howl become very well developed characters by the end
of the novel, and at first glance they might just look like any regular old story book characters
who act like the heroes they are and save the day to be together, they turn out to be wonderfully
complex characters with thoughts and actions that differ between moods, and situations. As said
early Diana Jones could have just wrote a thoughtful story about two people who fall in love and
fly off on heroic adventures like Peter Pan and Wendy, but instead she took the time to develop
these characters into individuals with their own thought processes that can be picked apart with
Sigmund Freuds psychoanalysis.

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Works Cited
Associated Press. "A Glance at Some of Sigmund Freud's Best-known Theories About the
Human Psyche." Associated Press, (2006): 1. Web. 5 November 2015.
De Sousa, Avinash. "Freudian Theory and Consciousness: A Conceptual Analysis." Mens Sana
Monographs, 9.1 (2011): 210-217. Web. 8 November 2015.
Jones, Diana Wynne. Howls Moving Castle. New York: HarperCollins, 1986. Print
McLeod, Saul. Sigmund Freud. SimplePsychology. 2013. Web. 13 November 2015.

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