Black Beauty

Sewell, A. (1983). Black Beauty. London WI: Cathay Books Limited.

            An autobiographical novel told from the first-person point of view of a horse, Black Beauty was the first of its kind when it was published in 1877, and remains popular throughout the world today.  Black Beauty is a realistic fiction chapter book for young adults.  It surely should be read particularly by any child who has love of or contact with horses.  There is a measure of sadness and cruelty in the story, although not extremely portrayed, and balanced by good.  The author’s purpose was to draw attention to and halt the mistreatment of horses in her time.  Beginning in his happy and free days as a foal on an idyllic farm with his mother, Black Beauty narrates his life experiences alongside other horses and different masters, both kind and cruel, until he is old and once again in a happy situation.  The events could indeed have happened to people and animals in the past as well as in modern settings.  Situational realism is provided by characters of identifiable ages and social classes.  Emotional realism is provided through personification--believable feelings and relationships experienced by Black Beauty, Ginger, and other horse companions.  Insights into social realism are glimpsed through honest portrayals of the different humans whose lives are intertwined with those of the horses, although the horses are explored more pointedly than the humans.  Consequently the book was censored and/or banned by some in its own time because it was considered immoral to attach human traits to animals.

            Initially I found the reading to be slightly bumpy because some of the words and sentence structures are unlike what we are accustomed to reading from modern authors.  It required re-reading some lines, then slowing down for a few pages before adjusting to the graceful flow of the author’s well-crafted narrative.  The 49 chapters are each 3-5 pages in length, helping to move the story along at an interesting pace while providing the necessary scene changes for different times, places, characters and episodes.  The chapters could almost be short stories in themselves.      

  

            Set in England in the nineteenth century, some of the terms and ways of life may seem foreign to readers in the twenty-first century, yet the story is still engaging and its gentle moral and ethical teachings remain relevant for young people of any period.  Children can easily make horse-human and human-human connections, such as receiving and giving respect, kindness, and sympathy.  Although the author’s Quaker roots are evident, the underlying notion of ethical treatment of animals transcends any particular religious doctrine.  The novel was influential in the beginnings of the ongoing movement for animal welfare.  Cruelty is cowardly and the devil’s own trade mark (p. 44).  “….there is no religion without love, and people may talk as much as they like about their religion, but if it does not teach them to be good and kind to man and beast, it is all a sham….” (p. 45).  Black Beauty’s first master thought that God gave animals knowledge that does not depend on reasoning--more prompt and perfect in its way—so that animals understand things humans do not sense before reasoning, or after tragedy. 

            Black Beauty is the embodiment of horse sense, which is also demonstrated in the best of his human companions.  Observed from the horses’ perspectives, there are many insights into the nature of humans--how some are kind, thoughtful and wise; others cruel, foolish, vain, ignorant and careless.  Compassion is named as the defining trait of a true gentleman or woman.  Wrongdoing through ignorance and carelessness is explored particularly in the character of Joe, who as a boy causes unintended great harm to Black Beauty, later reappearing as an older and wiser, excellent caretaker in the climax of the story.  Drunkenness is an evil theme visited more than once with sad or tragic results.  However, Jerry, one of Black Beauty’s kind owners, is revealed to have overcome his destructive craving for alcohol through mutual family love and devotion.  He is a kind man who demonstrates the Golden Rule in his treatment of horses and humans.  Some of the humans are foolishly concerned with fashion at the expense of the horses and others in their service.  The novel influenced the abolition of the bearing rein, which was fashionable but torturous for the horses, and blinkers (blinders) that obstructed the horse’s vision.  Even the dreadful perplexity of war is addressed from the perspective of The Old War Horse.  When asked what the humans fought about, he replied, “….that is more than a horse can understand, but the enemy must have been awfully wicked people, if it was right to go all the way over the sea on purpose to kill them” (p. 109).

            As with humans, the quality of the early lives of the horses shape their adult lives. “Good places make good horses” (p. 31).  Black Beauty’s fine character was molded in a compassionate environment.  Some of the other horses had not been so fortunate.  A human parallel is found in the reference to a little boy who was so traumatized by his older brother’s dressing as a ghost and chasing him that he became an idiot (p. 62).  The necessary ingredients for a happy and healthy horse are the same as for humans: patience, gentleness, firmness, petting, and common sense every day.  In later life, during one terrible night after his having been mistreated, Black Beauty reflected on his time as a foal, beside his mother in a peaceful summer meadow.  As part of his mother’s advice, she told him to always do his best wherever it is, and to keep up his good name—sound advice for any youngster, and admirable aspirations for character education.  Two other thought-provoking quotes concerning moral and social education are: “If a thing is right, it can be done, and if it is wrong, it can be done without; and a good man will find a way….” (p. 118); and, a portrayal of good citizenship in a free society, “…. if we see cruelty and wrong that we have the power to stop, and do nothing, we make ourselves sharers in the guilt” (p. 124).     

Question to explore following the reading of Black Beauty: 

How has the treatment of horses changed since 1877?

Why are bearing reins bad for horses?

What things make a horse happy?

Are you kind to animals?

Are you kind to other people?

Why is kindness important?