Writer Anna Sewell’s Black Beauty tells us how cruel the world can be. Anna Sewell has done a good job by observing her surroundings and writing them down in her book. The book is all about the feelings of animals and is basically a biography of a horse called Black Beauty that faces unlimited difficulties, but remains calm and fresh. The Black Beauty belongs to a gentleman.
Black Beauty appears completely black with just half a white leg and a cute white star on his forehead.
Farmer Grey never mistreats his horses and also Black Beauty’s mother is there to guide it all the time. He always remembers the ethics of his mother and never does something wrong to anyone. Beauty learns the rules of life as he is passed from one owner to the other. One day, a gentleman called Squire comes to farmer Grey to buy a horse and is instantly in love with Black Beauty.
He decided to purchase it.
Farmer Grey never mistreats his horses and also Black Beauty’s mother is there to guide it all the time. He always remembers the ethics of his mother and never does something wrong to anyone. Beauty learns the rules of life as he is passed from one owner to the other. One day, a gentleman called Squire comes to farmer Grey to buy a horse and is instantly in love with Black Beauty
Beauty feels a pain to leave his family and friends but he goes gently for the respect of his master. In his new house he meets his new fellows, a boy horse “Marryleg” and a girl horse “Ginger”. Marryleg is a small horse but has good manners but Ginger is young and has a high temper. Because she has always been mistreated, beaten and kept hungry in the pain. Marryleg is the horse of Squire’s daughters and other small girls. Once Beauty meets Sir Oliver, an old horse without tail, as Beauty observes Oliver without tail he asks “what happened to your tail where is it?” Oliver answers that in his young age there used to be a fashion to cut the tail of horse in order to make them run faster. A day, Squire takes Beauty to a journey but the flood starts on the way and breaks the bridge. Due to darkness Beauty can’t see the broken bridge but at the time a man from other side informs them about the broken bridge and then they take another way to come home. Another day Ginger and Beauty would be sold again to the different masters and both of their new masters are very cruel. The new master of Beauty is a drunkard and he beats his wife every day after drinking, but after he buys Beauty, every day he drinks and beats Beauty in order to feel happy. The drunkard master one day rides Beauty recklessly and unlimited fast which hurts the legs of Beauty a lot. Beauty slips and by a tough fall on earth the master dies and he gets into the hands of Geo Green who is a very kind person. Beauty has met Geo Green before who told him about the broken bridge and saved his life and Geo Green also recognizes Black Beauty due to the white star on his forehead and his half white leg. Once on a journey Beauty sees a dead horse in a carriage and he knows that she is Ginger, who have been tired from this cruel life and left living Beauty feels very upset about her. But after Geo Green encourages him and tells him that the life has given nothing to her that she should live and death is the best option for her may now she feels.
The book stresses on the fact that as human feel pain and hurt, so do animals. We should be kind and gentle to animals.
Black Beauty is an 1877 novel by English author Anna Sewell. It was composed in the last years of her life, during which she remained in her house as an invalid.
The novel became an immediate best-seller, with Sewell dying just five months after its publication, but having lived long enough to see her only novel become a success. With 50 million copies sold, Black Beauty is one of the best-selling books of all time.
While forthrightly teaching animal welfare, it also teaches how to treat people with kindness, sympathy, and respect. In 2003, the novel was listed at number 58 on the BBC’s survey The Big Read.
It is seen as a forerunner of the pony book.