Analysis of black beauty by anna sewell

s Black Beauty by Anna Sewell Black Beauty is a literary wonder written by Anna Sewell in the year 1877; the story is written in first-person narrative from the perspective of beautiful horse named “ Black Beauty”. The autobiographical account of a stallion from his early years as an exuberant little colt to an old horse gives great insight in to the diverse nature of people, who treated black beauty with love, kindness and respect and he also experienced cruelty and harshness.
The story stars off with Black beauty, a young foal under the care of a kind man called Farmer Grey, who trains Black beauty and the farm in under the ownership of Squire Gordon. Black beauty is given immense care and affection in the Squire’s household; however, the Squire is selling off his stable and moving away. All the horses are sold but the squire is extremely concerned about Black beauty and tries to find a good place for him. The Squire soon finds a new place for Black Beauty but due to a servant’s carelessness Black beauty is badly hurt and is no longer deemed fit to be a Gentlemen’s Stallion.
The servant falls to his death and Black beauty hurts his knee due to a broken shoe. His injury leaves a hideous scar on Black beauty’s knee and this marks the downward spiral for the horse. Subsequently, Black Beauty’s second master sell him off to a new household and then eventually Black Beauty pulls cab in the busy streets of London. There he meets many horses, who tell him their life stories and carry a strong moral message that does not only motivate Black beauty but also leaves a profound impact on the readers as well. After becoming extremely ill as a result of the harsh treatment and is taken into care by a kind farmer named Thoroughgood.
After Thoroughgood nurses Black Beauty back to health, he retreats to his life in the country with three ladies as his mistresses and he spends the remainder of his days in a safe and healthy environment. The story of Black Beauty is inspired by the events that took place in the Author’s life and the Black Beauty’s ordeal is a projection of the hardships faced by Sewell, who was rendered crippled at a very young age and was completely reliant on horses to help her get from one place to another. As Sewell felt indebted to her equine friends and felt that she needed to shed light on the daily life of a horse.
It is a literary marvel for all the animal lovers and is also critically acclaimed because of its philosophical component. As mentioned earlier, the story has immense amount of ecological validity and along with shedding light on the plight of animals, it shows the nature of people and also highlights the point that the world is composed of good and evil. However, just because one is subjected to cruelty does no mean that the world is devoid of kindness and goodness and this facet of the world is further elucidated by Black Beauty’s mother’s advice to him, when he was a mere colt. She said:
there are a great many kinds of men; there are good, thoughtful men like our master, that any horse may be proud to serve; but there are bad, cruel men, who never ought to have a horse or dog to call their own.”(Sewell, 2006, p. 7)
Therefore, no one can really predict as to what is to come but, one must always remain optimistic about the future. This story is truly heartwarming and is suitable for all ages but the most important reason the story really reached out to me was because of the fact that it was the projection of the author’s ordeal and for the deep message it carries for the readers about the world and people, in general.
Work Cited
Sewell, Anna. Black Beauty: The Autobiography of Horse. Echo library. 2006: P. 7