Was Black Beauty for real?
KAVITA SIVARAMAKRISHNAN
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With Black Beauty, Anna Sewell told the story of the life horses endured — good and bad.
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"We call them dumb animals, and so they are, for they cannot tell us how they feel, but they do not suffer less because they have no words."
"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."
Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
Anna Sewell's story of Black Beauty is one of the most famous and best loved books of all time. But who was Black Beauty?
Anna Sewell's classic tale of 1877 was set in Victorian England. Sewell was born on 1820, in Norfolk, England, and was crippled while still young. She spent a lot of time in horse-drawn carriages as she moved from place to place. Since she led a life dominated by pain, she could see the life and sufferings of a horse and animals in general through their eyes. As a result she developed great concern for the proper treatment of animals.
Sewell's mother was a successful writer for children. From her sick bed Anna dictated much of the book to her mother.
Anna Sewell's sensitive words show us how horses served people in so many ways. Using the life story of a handsome black thoroughbred, told in his own words. Black Beauty describes the experiences — both good and bad — that horses endured.
Life story
Beginning his life in the fields of a kind owner's stable with his mother and good friends, Black Beauty finds himself passing through a variety of homes, becoming by turns a riding horse, fancy carriage horse and later, a lowly cart horse. Black Beauty describes his life, as he is worked and used as horses were then, sometimes treated well, sometimes not.
Although Black Beauty has a happy ending, the reality was different. The horses often died in harness due to overwork and lack of care.
So, who was Black Beauty? Black Beauty represented the working horses, the riding and driving horses, of Victorian times. Although the fictional Black Beauty was created from the imagination of a caring writer, there were many real "Black Beauties" being ridden and driven more than 100 years ago and Black Beauty was an eye-opener, which voiced their mistreatment at the hands of humans.
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