Narrative Closure in Diana Wynne Jones's Howl's Moving Castle

Abstract

In this BA thesis, I explore how narrative closure is carried out in Diana Wynne Jones’s famous children’s novel Howl’s Moving Castle. In this novel, the narrative purposely evokes multiple questions that stir curiosity in the reader, then later on presents satisfying answers to them. These questions vary both in their plot relevance and in the amount of plot that they cover. For my theoretical framework, I utilise Noël Carroll’s narrative closure theory. I point out the actions that most likely evoke questions in the reader and proceed to present the possible clues that are offered and the narrative devices that are used before explicit closure is obtained. I explain how questions from differing levels are connected to each other so that the macro-level questions are only able to obtain closure after smaller questions are answered first. The findings made in this thesis show that Howl’s Moving Castle arrives at perfect closure, where all questions raised by the narrative are able to obtain closure in a satisfactory manner and no further questions are raised. The narrative offers multiple clues which allow the reader to reach closure before explicit answers are eventually given. In the future, this topic can be extended by researching how narrative closure is obtained in other works, and by comparing how narrative closure possibly differs in children’s literature versus adult literature.