How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
"My mother died and my father got drowned in a storm," Michael said. "And nobody wants you when that happens. I had to leave our house because I couldn't pay rent, and I tried to live in the streets, but people kept turning me off doorsteps and out of boats until the only place I could think of to go was somewhere everyone was too scared of to interfere with. Howl had just started up in a small way as Sorcerer Jenkin then. But everyone said his house had devils in it, so I slept on his doorstep for a couple of nights until Howl opened the door one morning on his way to buy bread and I fell inside. So he said I could wait indoors while he got something to eat. I went in, and there was Calcifer, and I started talking to him because I'd never met a demon before." (9.20)
While Michael, Howl, and Calcifer are not directly related to each other (well, Calcifer literally holds onto Howl's heart, but aside from that…), their relationship is certainly one of family. Howl essentially adopts Michael when no one else in the world will take him in, after all. In a lot of ways, Sophie's time in the moving castle allows her to explore the possibilities of families of choice over families of blood (though she does eventually reunite with her blood relatives, as well).
Quote #5
"What do you mean, you've sold all my books?" [Sophie] heard Howl saying. "I needed one of them particularly. They weren't yours to sell."
"Don't keep interrupting!" Megan answered in a low, ferocious voice. "Listen now! I've told you before I'm not a storehouse for your property. You're a disgrace to me and Gareth, lounging about in those clothes instead of buying a proper suit and looking respectable for once, taking up with riffraff and layabouts, bring them to this house. Are you trying to bring me down to your level? You had all that education, and you don't even get a decent job, you just hang around, wasting all that time at college, wasting all those sacrifices other people made, wasting your money …" (11.44-5)
Sophie may feel that Fanny has taken her for granted (and she has), but it turns out that Howl's blood family is much more openly resentful and difficult than Sophie's ever was. Howl's sister Megan does not bother to understand Howl at all, and she spends much of her time when Howl is in Wales running him down and brutally scolding him. We can see why Howl decided to use his magic to flee to Ingary—he seems to fit in with the people there much better than he does with his relatives back in our world.
Quote #6
"I am talking to your mother," she said. "I daresay she is as proud of you as I am. We are two old ladies who both had a hand in forming you. You are, one might say, our joint creation."
"Don't you think I did any of me myself, then?" Howl asked. "Put in just a few touches of my own?"
"A few, and those not altogether to my liking," Mrs. Pentstemmon replied. "But you will not wish to sit here and hear yourself being discussed. You will go down and sit on the terrace, taking your page boy with you, where Hunch will bring you both a cool drink. Go along." (12.30-32)
Notice here that Mrs. Pentstemmon thinks of parents and teachers as two sides of the same coin—they both have a hand in guiding you until you become an adult. At their best, teachers can be secondary parents—or at least mentors—who can help you to realize your full potential.