How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
That night, as she sewed, Sophie admitted to herself that her life was rather dull. Instead of talking to the hats, she tried each one on as she finished it and looked in the mirror. This was a mistake. The staid gray dress did not suit Sophie, particularly when her eyes were red-rimmed with sewing, and, since her hair was a reddish straw color, neither did caterpillar green nor pink. The one with mushroom pleats simply made her look dreary. "Like an old maid!" said Sophie.
One reason why Sophie is so isolated and miserable at the beginning of Howl's Moving Castle is because she never gives herself a break. She works super hard, which is partly because Fanny takes her for granted, but she also seems to be choosing to make things worse by not visiting her sisters when she easily could, or even (as here) by wearing unflattering clothes that make her feel "like an old maid."
Sophie does have some life circumstances that are keeping her trapped—she doesn't want to be an apprentice at the hat shop, though she feels like she has to—but she is also trapped by her own mindset.
Quote #2
"Does it matter if there are no hats to sell?" she asked it. She looked round the assembled hats, on stands or waiting in a heap to be trimmed. "What good are you all?" she asked them. "You certainly aren't doing me a scrap of good."
And she was within an ace of leaving the house and setting out to seek her fortune, until she remembered she was the eldest and there was no point. She took up the hat again, sighing. (2.16-7)
This is the only book we can think of where the main character's lack of confidence is caused by her birth order. As the oldest daughter in a fairytale kingdom, Sophie seems to really believe that she is doomed to failure.
Quote #3
Sophie looked warily at the demon's thin blue face. It had a distinctly cunning look as it made this proposal. Everything she had read showed the extreme danger of making a bargain with a demon. And there was no doubt that this one did look extraordinarily evil. Those long purple teeth. "Are you sure you're being quite honest?" she said.
"Not completely," admitted the demon. "But do you want to stay like that till you die? That spell has shortened your life by about sixty years, if I am any judge of such things." (3.41-2)
Sophie's back is up against a wall in this scene: she basically has no choice but to make her deal with Calcifer. Luckily Calcifer isn't a Miss Angorian-style fire demon, and he actually does seem to have Sophie's best interests at heart. But when you're being forced into a deal with death on the line, it's tough to feel like you're really choosing.