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John Laurin
Lewis
English 115
23 November 2015
Evolution of Personality
The feeling of not being worthy or good enough is common in todays society. People's
high standards are often associated with feeling less than good enough to be of some importance.
The feeling of unimportance may stem from low self-esteem and/or the expectations of society.
Society may have unreasonable or unattainable standards and ideologies that may impel someone
to feel unimportant. This feeling may be provoked because one may not be able to reach these
expectations due to uncontrollable factors; namely, genetics or even the sequential order of
which one is born according to ones siblings. In the book, Howls Moving Castle, by Dianne
Wynne Jones, the main character Sophie Hatter experiences common feelings in her home
country, Ingary. The ideology of Ingary states that the youngest child born is promised a life of
adventure and fortune, the middle lives a comfortable life, and the eldest child in the family is
doomed to failure. The ideological state apparatus roots from the theorist Althusser. The theory
of ideology posed by Louis Althusser by definition is a system of ideas and ideals, especially
one that forms the basis of economic or political theory and policy (Brewster). As the oldest
sibling, Sophie believes she is doomed to fail and can never become someone or do anything of
importance. She goes through many mirror stages during the entire novel; each stage contributes
to the evolution of her identity. A mirror stage in the form of a simple definition is a time of

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transition or development in ones personality and or identity (Definition of a Mirror Stage).

Every time ones identity changes, it represents another mirror stage within ones life. Sophie has
to go through multiple mirror stages evolving her personality to become a fearless and strong
individual. The mirror stages where Sophie experiences change are represented all throughout
the book, namely when she is turned into an old woman and becomes young once again and
when her familys hat shop is turned into a flower shop in disguise from the Witch of the Waste.
Sophie Hatter is the eldest child of the Hatter family. In Sophies society the eldest child
is doomed to failure, so Sophie identifies herself as someone that can never be special or amount
to anything. At the beginning of the book Sophie could be described in two words: sheltered and
frightened. Due to the ideology of Ingary, Sophie assumed her life to be unexciting, doomed with
a predetermined fate, and no overall control over her life in general. Therefore, Sophie had no
dreams to become anyone of importance and had no desire to do anything with her life. Her
thought process was this way due to the preconceived notions that it was destiny for the eldest
child to take over the family business and be doomed to failure; never having outside
opportunities, and never stepping out of ones comfort zone. Sophies family name is Hatter
which directly ties to the identity of Sophie, her family owns a hat shop. Sophies last name
Hatter, directly relates to her job of making hats. Her whole family operates a hat shop and their
last name happens to be Hatter which ties their name to their occupation. Sophies personality
resembles what she does inside the store and as she changes her personality, she also changes the
store. She talks to the hats inside the store as she creates them. After Sophie sells them, it goes
around that good things happen to the people that purchased the hats; this also reveals the part of

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Sophies personality that she is an overall good person. As the only one in her family left at the
hat shop with her step mother Sophie was obligated to spend all of her time crafting and
designing the hats to sell. Sophie did not have time to leave the store but only to focus on her
task of making and selling the hats shunning the outside world. In this quote it is evident that
Sophie is indeed going to follow the path of every other oldest daughter, Now, Sophie dear, it
seems only right and just you inherit the hat shop when I retire being the eldest you are (Jones
8). This also relates to Althussers theory of ideology; Sophie is doing what every other eldest
daughter does: she is following her destiny of amounting to nothing. She is not trying to
challenge the norms because she believes that the towns ideals and expectations for her are true
and inevitable.
Mirror stages are an essential part of the novel since new stages occur in Sophies life
fairly often. Lacans mirror stage is described as when a baby first start to recognize oneself in a
mirror and start to form an identity. The definition stretches further to a period of time in
someones life where a transition occurs, physically or mentally, that changes the way one looks
at oneself in the mirror. Sophies first mirror stage occurs when she is transformed into an old
woman by the Witch of the Waste. In a way, this may have been more of a blessing than a curse;
with her new found old age and smarts, Sophie was able to step out of her bubble and make rash
decisions that ultimately changed the outcome of her life. Before the spell was cast upon Sophie,
she seemed to be comfortable with the fact that her fate was not in her hands. But posttransformation, her attitude toward life somewhat rejuvenated and she finds a strong and new
voice. She nearly alters her identity entirely during this mirror stage and it is one of the more

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drastic stages that Sophie goes through in the novel. The new, adventurous Sophie is not afraid to
speak her mind and take risks to get where she wants to be, which is the polar opposite from
young Sophie. Prior to being turned into an elderly woman by the Witch of the Waste, Sophie
resembled the typical life of the eldest daughter, She felt isolated and a little dull (11). This
quote accurately represents her overall attitude about life and the expectations she had in mind
for herself. She worked in the familys hat shop and thought she would never become nothing
more than the person she was. After Sophies transformation she experienced a change in her
overall attitude regarding life. This transition is evident in this quote, "Don't worry, old thing,
Sophie said to the face. You look quite healthy. Besides, this is much more like you really are"
(36). Even from the first moment she realizes she is old, she seems to already be more accepting
of her new identity. With the mindset of an older woman, she seems to be more careless of other
people's opinions and more concerned with her own well-being. Sophie tells herself, The way I
am now, its scarcely worth worrying about (39-40). With one change, a chain of them follow;
not just physical changes but Sophies overall attitude toward life seems to have shifted.
Through Sophies many adventures she convinces the Wizard Howl to let her be the
cleaning lady for his home. Howl lives in a moving castle, which the movement is controlled by
the magic of a fire demon, Calcifer. Howl uses magic to create new portals from within the
castle, so he has easy access to get to four set locations. Near the end of the novel, as a measure
of security and protection, Howl moves the castle to the Hatters hat shop and transforms it into a
flower shop. Magic is carefully used by Howl and Calcifer to make this happen. This specific
even is another example of the mirror image because prior to be becoming an old woman,

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Sophies whole identity itself was based on the hat shop and what took place inside of it. Before
she changed, Sophie lived and breathed hat-crafting and the Hatter family business. Now the
family last name Hatter is irrelevant to Sophie because that was no longer her familys business;
this is a point in the novel where she loses the biggest part of her identity.
Howl helped himself up on the shovel and opened the door with the yellow blob
downward. Outside was the street in Market Chipping that Sophie had known all her life.
People she knew were walking past in the evening, taking a stroll before supper, the way
a lot of people did in summer. Howl nodded at Calcifer, shut the door, turned the knob
orange-down, and opened it again (320).
This relates to a change in Sophies identity because at first when Howl opens the door she sees
the city of Market Chipping, but when the knob is turned she is in a place that is unfamiliar.
Sophie tends to feel more comfortable being in places she is familiar with; this part of the novel
rips away part of Sophies identity because she is no longer in a familiar place. Now her home is
different than it was before; it has been transformed by Calcifer and Howls magic into a safe
haven rather than the place where Sophie grew up.
One last demonstration of Lacans mirror stage is shown at the near end of the book when
Sophie turns back into a young girl again. Lacans theory is evident when Sophie becomes young
again amidst the act of transferring Howls heart back into him prior to removing it from
Calcifer. Martha, Sophies youngest sister, tells her that the curse has been lifted, Sophie, said
Martha, the spells off you! Did you hear? (428). Sophie is so infatuated with Howl that she
does not fully realize the change that has just taken place. But, this still represents Lacans mirror

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stage theory because yet again Sophie undergoes a physical change and with that her identity
changes once again. There are more changes that take place other than the apparent physical
alterations, the ones that occur to Sophies personality and on the inside are what contributes
more heavily to her identity. When the transition happens her and Howl are very busy looking at
each other that Sophie does not realize, but Howl does realize because he is looking at her. She
ultimately ends up being as beautiful as she feels and because Howl cares for her, she feels even
more beautiful. This version of Sophie is different compared to the person she started as; now
she sees herself as beautiful therefore she is beautiful. This is another example of Lacans mirror
stage. This counters Althussers theory of ideology because Sophie strays from the norms
completely by the end of the novel. She becomes an individual and finds her true identity by the
end of the book. Throughout the novel Sophie experiences a complete transition physically,
emotionally, and mentally. In the end she ended up being a completely different person and her
identity was continuously changing during different stages of the novel.
To recap, in the end Sophies misfortunes transformed her identity for the better and she
received the fairytale ending that she was not even aware she wanted. Prior to all the mirror
stages that took place in her life, Sophie expected nothing more for herself than what the norm
for the eldest Ingary children were destined to become. She felt insignificant and kept a lot of
feelings inside her head because society dictated what was allowed and what was not. It was easy
for her to collapse into the ways and ideals that society taught her to except from a very young
age. At the beginning of Howls Moving Castle, Sophie was not anything special and she never
thought of going out of her comfort zone in order to make something more for her life. It was

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interesting to see how the numerous mirror stages Sophie went through completely changed her
identity and personality. When she changed into an elderly women her personality and physical
appearance is heavily altered and when her home is transformed into the castle another part of
her identity was changed. All of these changes add up to Sophies new identity at the end of the
book. What was illustrated was that Lacans views of lifes transformations and changes, should
be embraced; one should never fear going outside of what society expects from one group of
people or just people in general. Looking at the country of Ingary, the act of slipping into the
ideologies, a theory proposed by Althusser, would be relatively easy. But, Sophie was able to
find herself, her true identity, through adventures and in the end she learned to love herself and
those around her. She broke expectations and because of this and finding her identity, she
received love and happiness at the summation of the novel. It is not difficult to default into the
normal ways that society runs itself, as shown in this fictional novel.

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Works Cited
Althusser, Louis. Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses by Louis Althusser 1969-70. Ed.
Andy Blunden. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Nov. 2015.
Brewster, Ben. "Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses(Notes towards an Investigation)."
25 Nov. 2015. Web.
"Definition of Mirror Stage in English:." Mirror Stage. Oxford University Press, n.d. Web. 29
Nov. 2015.
Jones, Diana Wynne. Howl's Moving Castle. New York: Greenwillow, 1986. Print.