Genre
Children's Fiction /Fantasy
Setting and Context
Fictional Market Chipping, a small town on the England/Wales border, and also Wales. Time not really specified as Market Chipping and Wales seem to exist in different times
Narrator and Point of View
Third person Narrator who tells the story from Sophie Hatter's point of view
Tone and Mood
Mystical and threatening
Protagonist and Antagonist
Sophie is the protagonist. The Witch of the Waste is the antagonist
Major Conflict
There is a huge fight at the end of the novel between the Witch's fire demon and Sophie who is trying to prevent her getting Howl's heart to put into the Witch and give her life again
Climax
The fire demon and the Witch are defeated and the missing characters are returned
Foreshadowing
Miss Angorian finding Howl's poem instead of Neil's homework foreshadows the fact that the Witch has already infiltrated his family in Wales
Understatement
Michael says he might have gotten the growing spell slightly wrong which is a huge understatement as the suit that they sprinkle it on grows so large that each of the jacket sleeves takes up an entire floor of the castle
Allusions
Howl holds the skull in his hand and says "Alas, poor Yorrick" which alludes to the Shakespeare play "Hamlet"
Imagery
There is a huge amount of fire imagery in the novel and the type and color of the fire denotes whether the character is good or bad; the fire is always described not only with a visual image that includes vivid layers of color but also in terms of sound, smell and feeling to so that each fire image appeals to each one of the reader's senses
Paradox
Howl is doing the brave and difficult things he pretends not to be doing. This is because he is a coward and in order to do frightening things he has to tell himself that he is not doing them at all so that his whole personal dialogue is paradoxical
Parallelism
There is a parallel between the Witch and Howel as they both have fire demons whom they keep against the demon's will
Metonymy and Synecdoche
Market Chipping is out and about on Midsummer Day which is using the name of the town to mean all of the individual people in it
Personification
The shooting star that Sophie and Michael chase down has a conversation with them and expresses its fears and feelings which personifies the star
