Welcome TO Black Beauty
Black
Beauty (in full: Black Beauty: The Autobiography of a Horse,
first published November 24, 1877) is Anna Sewell's only novel,
composed in the last years of her life between 1871 and 1877
while confined to her house as an invalid.
The story is told in the first person (or "first horse") as an
autobiographical memoir told by a highbred horse named Black
Beauty—beginning with his carefree days as a colt on an English
farm, to his difficult life pulling cabs in London, to his happy
retirement in the country.
Along the way, he meets with many hardships and recounts many
tales of cruelty and kindness. Each short chapter recounts an
incident in Black Beauty's life containing a lesson or moral
typically related to the kindness, sympathy, and understanding
treatment of horses, with Sewell's detailed observations and
extensive descriptions of horse behaviour lending the novel a
good deal of verisimilitude.
The book became an immediate best-seller, with Anna living just
long enough (five months) to see her first and only novel become
a success. Anna said of her purpose in writing "its special aim
being to induce kindness, sympathy, and an understanding
treatment of horses"—an influence she attributed to an essay on
animals she read earlier by Horace Bushnell (1802-1876) entitled
"Essay on Animals". Her sympathetic portrayal of the plight of
working animals led to a vast outpouring of concern for animal
welfare and is said to have been instrumental in abolishing the
cruel practice of using the checkrein (or "bearing rein", a
strap used to keep horses' heads high, fashionable in Victorian
England but painful and damaging to a horses' neck). Black
Beauty also contains two pages about the use of blinders
(calling them blinkers) on horses, concluding that this use is
likely to cause accidents at night due to interference with "the
full use of" a horse's ability to "see much better in the dark
than men can."
Characters
Horses:
Black Beauty/Black Auster/Jack/Darkie—The narrator of the story
who earned his name from his dark coat. He always tries his best
to serve humans despite the circumstance.
Duchess/Pet—Beauty's mother, who encourages Beauty to be good
from a young age.
Rob Roy—A fellow black horse from Beauty's original farm. It is
later alluded that he was Beauty's half-brother, an older son of
Duchess.
Ginger—Named so because of her chestnut color, Ginger is a more
aggressive horse due to her traumatic upbringing.
Merrylegs—A short, handsome pony who is polite to humans and
horses alike.
Sir Oliver—A horse who had his tail removed for fashion purposes
to his great annoyance and discomfort.
Rory—A job horse who usually got paired up with Black
Beauty/Black Auster/Jack/Darkie. Became a coal carting horse
after getting hit in the chest by a violent cart.
Peggy—A hired horse who cannot run so fast due to her short
legs.
Captain—A former army horse who witnessed horrific incidents in
the Crimean War, although he was well treated and received no
wounds.
Hotspur—A five year old horse bought to replace Captain.
Justice—A calm, peaceable horse Beauty meets at Birtwick Park.
Beauty's owners
Farmer Grey—Beauty's first owner.
Squire Gordon—owner of Birtwick Park, a fine rider, and boss of
John, James, and Joe.
John Manly—A coachman who treats his horses with care and
respect.
James Howard—John's stable boy.
Joe Green—John's younger and less experienced stable boy that
comes about when James has to leave.
Earl of W-—An unnamed Lord who uses Beauty as a carriage horse.
Reuben Smith—A handsome and charming young man whose downfall is
caused by his alcoholism.
Mr. Barry—A man who tries to treat horses well, but lacks
knowledge on horse care.
Filcher—Barry's horse groom who steals food from the stable
(Note: the verb 'to filch' means 'to steal').
Jerry—A kind owner who uses Beauty as a cab horse. AKA Jeremiah
Barker. Also owner of Captain and Hotspur.
Jakes—An owner who uses Beauty as a work horse, forcing him to
carry heavy loads.
Nicholas Skinner—A ruthless cab horse owner who wears out horses
through hard work and mistreatment.
Farmer Thoroughgood—A kind owner who cares for Beauty when he is
at his weakest.
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