Weinstein 1

Noah Weinstein
Kimberly Lewis
English 115
22 November 2015
Sophie
Ideological State Apparatus - A rule one follows with a consequence in a civil society,
created by philosopher Louis Althusser. In Diana Wynne Joness Howls Moving Castle, Sophie
Hatter, the eldest of three sisters, is placed under a spell by the mysterious Witch of the Waste,
transforming her into an old woman and forcing her to shroud her spell in secrecy. Searching for
answers, Sophie enlists the help of young Wizard Howl and his fire demon Calcifer to help break
the spell and return her to normal age. In the town of Ingary, there is an ideological state apparatus that the eldest child of ones family is destined to fail in life. While the middle child Lettie is
preparing to get married away and the youngest child Martha is still going to school with a bright
educational future, the eldest sister Sophie is stuck in her familys hat shop. While it may look
bright on the surface, the three sisters have different feelings about each of these outcomes. Sophie Hatter, because of the spell she is placed under, realizes she can make a greater fortune than
all of her sisters by the storys end. Sophie disproves the ideology of the first born failing because of her complex relationship with Wizard Howl, her wise mindset on life, and the social reconstruction of her identity.
Sophie Hatter is an old soul in a youthful body which benefits her character greatly. Sophie understood at a young age that she didnt have much potential for a great future. She was
forced to leave school after her caretaker Fanny couldnt afford to pay for her education and she

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was very often in charge of taking care of her sisters, Lettie and Martha. While disappointed, Sophie chose not to dwell upon these misfortunes and instead focused on raising her sisters, blossoming into a mother-like figure and making her genuinely happy. Sophies sisters Lettie and
Martha, are both incredibly unhappy, despite getting more benefits such as allowing Lettie to finish school and giving Martha an apprenticeship to Fannys friend and sorcerer Annabel Fairfax.
Lettie was spoiled and only wanted what Marthas future had to offer, even commenting to Fanny Its not fair! Why should Martha have the best of it just because she was born the youngest? I
shall marry a prince, so there! (3). Martha however wanted Letties future, and even switched
places with Lettie in hopes of being married off one day. Martha even exclaims to Sophie, I
wanted to get married and have ten children. (25), revealing her true irrational nature, which not
only disappointed Sophie, but the readers as well for being incredibly selfish. While Sophie was
just as jealous as the other two sisters, Sophie was wise enough to not let the envy get to her head
and made the best out of her situation by simply, continuing her apprenticeship with Fanny at the
hat store, and maintaining a stable lifestyle. Sophie flipped the ideology, instead having all but
the eldest fail the worst.
When Sophie is cast under the spell by the Witch of the Waste, turning her into an old
woman, she is not allowed to speak of this curse to anyone. Sophie embraces the physicality instantly, telling herself in the mirror You look quite healthy. Besides, this is much more like you
really are. (36) Sophie at this moment goes through a mirror stage, a process where you identify and realize your self-image, created by philosopher Jaques Lacan. The spell also prompts Sophie to realize her full potential, escaping the relentless drama in her family to set off on her own
adventure to break her spell. While the Witch of the Waste placed a very negative

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spell on Sophie, Sophie quickly accepted the spell and used it to realize her true character, a
strong willed, old soul.
The Witch of the Waste also contributes to the ideology not applying toward Sophie.
While the Witch of the Waste did place a terrible curse on Sophie, turning her into the old
woman, the Witch did this out of extreme envy. The action the Witch took was a way of projection, a defense mechanism attributing their own unacceptable thoughts, feeling and motives to
another person. (McLeod, 1) The truth was the Witch of the Waste was a very frail person herself as well as incredibly self destructive because of a fire demon consuming her soul and Sophie, while not knowing it, was an incredibly powerful magician, posing as more than formidable competition for the Witch. By using projection as her defense mechanism, she literally
projected her insecurity of her age onto Sophie and punished her for no reason other than she felt
she needed to be a better wizard than Sophie. This gives the Witch a poor self-image which causes her to act on irrational feelings, committing actions such as threatening the Kings son to attempting to kill Wizard Howl out of envy. Sophie not only takes the Witches spell with a grain of
salt, but its because of the Witchs ignorance she discovers her true power as a wizard with Wizard Howl and Calcifer and by the books end, defeats the Witch of the Waste with a single blow.
Sophie not only disproved the ideology of the first born failing but also proves the Witch of the
Wastes self fufilling prophecy of being responsible for her own demise.
Sophie and Wizard Howls complex relationship also proves the ideology of the first born
failing false. Wizard Howl is seen as incredibly sickly and selfish when we first meet him, first
refusing to let Sophie finish cooking breakfast for everyone on the Moving Castle when she began, then yelling at Sophie for cleaning and rearranging his bathroom, and finally howling in

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pain and oozing with green slime everywhere after Sophie switched some of Howls body washes in different containers, causing his hair to change color.
A prominent theory used in their relationship is a three part brain psychic apparatus developed by Sigmund Freud; the id, ego, and superego. The id being the incredibly selfish side,
the superego being the very conscious side and the ego being the mindset that balances the two.
Howl represents all that is irrational and senseless. When responding to Sophie after
telling him his room was a pigsty, and I cant help what I am! (97), Howl quickly replies
with Yes you can, And I like my room the way it is. You must admit I have a right to live in a
pigsty if I want. (97). The immature ways Howl handled these situations prove he has a very
strong id but very weak superego because of his lack of logic and self-control he has in his arguments with Sophie.
Sophie however is the opposite, applying almost all logic, in this case her superego towards her arguments to make the Castle a nicer place to live, lacking any selfish or nonsensical
desires in her arguments. Her superego is particularly used in full effect when Howl threw the
tantrum and oozed with green slime everywhere after his hair changed color from the wrong hair
product. Sophie yelled at Howl for acting like a baby, and then man handled Howl into the bathroom to wash all the green slime off of him.
Howl and Sophie both have immense potential but what makes their relationship so complex is the fact that they balance each other out well. Sophies superego grounds Wizard Howl
and helps him understand the importance of being polite to his servants and to face his fears,
while Wizard Howls Id helps Sophie recognize her true selfish nature and what she really wants
from life. This creates a strong sense of ego for both Wizard Howl and Sophie, helping

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them through their individual conflicts such as Howl breaking his contract with Calcifer and Sophie confronting the Witch of the Waste to break her curse.
Sophie goes through her second mirror stage, when she is reunited with her family. When
Fanny and Martha come across Sophie in the moving castle, Sophie is worried that they will
have moved on from Sophie and wont care about her at all. However, she is welcomed with
open arms by both of them, with Fanny even saying How Ive blamed myself! (381) for Sophies disappearance. Martha, also being incredibly happy to see Sophie, shouted Sophie, you
should have told me! while she flung her arms round her. Then she flung her arms round Fanny,
just as if she had never said all those things about her (383). Fanny also boosts Sophies confidence in her parenting skills, saying You could stop Marthas tantrums when I couldnt do a
thing with her. And I always said it was thanks to you that Lettie only got her own way half of
the time instead of all the time! (382). Sophie realized at this moment, that she not only missed
her family but her family missed her as well as loved her unconditionally. Sophie also realized at
this moment, that the journey she took throughout the story came to full circle, from when she
left her family to reuniting with them now, a changed woman. Sophie discovered that she is at
heart, a family woman, who cares deeply about the people who love her. She also discovered that
her family was wrong about Wizard Howl, thinking he was a monstrous wicked man. Sophie
however explained to them In all the time Ive been here, Ive not seen him work a single evil
spell! (382). Talking about Howl as the kind gentleman he is also makes her realize she is in
love with Wizard Howl, eventually getting married to him by the books end. This proves the
ideology of the first born failing false again, because of Sophie and her family coming to terms
with one another, in a very satisfying and thoughtful way. While Sophie felt as though she

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needed to prove her worth to family throughout the entire story, the roles flip, instead having her
family prove to her that she was the most needed out of all the sisters because of her incredible
mother skills as well as her ability to maintain her kindness and gratitude with everything shes
been through.
Sophie Hatter, the eldest of the three sisters, proved that the ideology of the first born
failing the worst in life is false. Her family impacted this greatly by being the reason she goes
through two mirror stages, first showing her familys greedy dark side when Sophie runs away
from them, and then their incredibly loving side when she reunites with them by the stories end
and proving that she is still loved by her family. The Witch of the Waste proves the ideology
wrong by showing her that the ones curse are cursed themselves in a way, with the Witch of the
Waste laying waste to herself by the storys end and while she at first cursed her greatest rival, it
severely came back to bite her when the spell Sophie was put under was used to empower her
more and discover her true wizard form. Sophies relationship with Wizard Howl helped her find
a unique balance in her life between logic and fantasy, creating a new ego to balance their intense
ids and superegos. Sophie not only helped tame Wizard Howls uncontrollable id but also helped
Sophie allow herself to live her life more. Lastly, despite the support that Sophie gets from all
these characters, it is really Sophie Hatters wise attitude that allowed to get as far as she did in
her life. If she didnt accept the curse placed upon her by Witch of the Waste, she wouldnt have
abandoned her family, met Wizard Howl, or truly sought the happiness she wanted to find in life.
There was an ideological state apparatus placed upon the town of Ingary, where the first born is
the child is to fail the first and the worst of all. While its true that Sophie failed the first and

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the worst in the beginning, she got the best out of her situation by the storys end and proved the
ideological state apparatus a fallacy.

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Works Cited
Johnston, Adrian, Jacques Lacan, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2014
Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2014/entries

Shmoop Editorial Team. "The Witch of the Waste in Howl's Moving Castle." Shmoop. Shmoop
University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 3 Dec. 2015.

Shmoop Editorial Team. "Sophie Hatter in Howl's Moving Castle." Shmoop. Shmoop University,
Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 2 Dec. 2015.

Wynne Jones, Dianna. Howls Moving Castle. New York: Harper Collins, 2008. Print.