Black Beauty is an autobiography of a horse, written from the horse's point of view. The story begins when Beauty is born in good circumstances. He is well-bred and raised by his mother, Duchess, a well-mannered and wise horse who teaches him how to behave properly. Beauty then grows up at Birtwick Park, where he is taken care of by John Manly and treated kindly by Squire Gordon and his family. He lives happily there and learns that good treatment makes a horse trust and respect his owner.
However, his peaceful life changes when he has to leave Birtwick Park and move to Earlshall. There, he experiences different treatment and begins to understand that not all humans treat horses with kindness. He later goes through many difficult experiences and changes owners several times. He becomes a London cab horse and sees how hard and exhausting life can be for working horses, till he finds a peaceful and caring final home where he can live comfortably for the rest of his life.
Beauty has many friends and meets several horses who tell him about their experiences, such as Ginger, the short-tempered horse; Merrylegs, the lively pony; Captain, the old war horse; and poor Seedy Sam, a cart horse who is often overworked and forced to carry heavy loads. Through their stories, Beauty learns about the different ways horses are treated by humans.
There are so many of Anna Sewell's share criticsm, but I love to higlighted this with a quote, she criticize about fashion over animal welfare :
THE OLD HORSE: “Of course it is,” said he, "to my mind, fashion is one of the wickedest things in the world. Now look, for instance, at the way they serve dogs, cutting off their tails to make them look plucky, and shearing up their pretty little ears to a point to make them look sharp, forsooth! ............. They healed in time, and they forgot the pain, but the nice soft flap that of course was intended to protect the delicate part of their ears from dust and injury was gone for ever. Why don’t they cut their own children’s ears into points to make them look sharp? Why don’t they cut the end off their noses to make them look plucky? One would be just as sensible as the other. What right have they to torment and disfigure God’s creatures?”
about overworking and sufferig London cab horse :
JERRY BARKER: “Yes, sir, that is true, and I am grateful for all favors, I am sure, and anything that I could do to oblige you, or the lady, I should be proud and happy to do; but I can’t give up my Sundays, sir, indeed I can’t. I read that God made man, and He made horses and all the other beasts, and as soon as He had made them, He made a day of rest, and bade that all should rest one day in seven; and I think, sir, He must have known what was good for them, and I am sure it is good for me; "
When the horse pull overweight cart:
I got along fairly till we came to Ludgate Hill, but there the heavy load and my own exhaustion were too much. I was struggling to keep on, goaded by constant chucks of the rein and use of the whip, when, in a single moment —I cannot tell how—my feet slipped from under me, and I fell heavily to the ground on my side; the suddenness and the force with which I fell seemed to beat all the breath out of my body. I lay perfectly still; indeed, I had no power to move, and I thought now I was going to die. I heard a sort of confusion round me, loud angry voices, and the getting down of the luggage, but it was all like a dream. I thought I heard that sweet pitiful voice saying, “Oh! That poor horse! It is all our fault.”
The author making the horse feel like a person with thoughts and feelings. this is interesting because this is not merely children fiction, but social criticsm that Anna Sewell gives a voice to a creature that cannot speak. Besides telling the story of how horses are ill-treated, Black Beauty also shows us how to be a good person through the way we treat animals. Sewell suggests that kindness, patience, responsibility, and empathy toward animals are signs of good character.
“My doctrine is this, that if we see cruelty or wrong that we have the power to stop, and do nothing, we make ourselves sharers in the guilt.”
Year : August 2018 (First Published in 1877 )
Format / Pages : Softcover / 272 pages
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