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Anna Sewell, Black Beauty, 1877
May. 25th, 2012 07:01 pmJoanna Russ says no one ever writes only one novel. Unless they die at the age of 15 and never read anything else, every author is influenced by those around her.
Anna Sewell did, of course, only write one novel, but she was at the same time influenced by those around her (and she would possibly have written more if she had not lived only long enough to see her novel become a runaway success). To start with, there was the influence of her mother who wrote simple moral tales which were very popular and which Sewell helped edit. Then there was the influence of Horace Bushnell who inspired her to write a popular story promoting kindness to animals.
Sewell suffered an accident when she was fourteen which left her generally unable to walk for the rest of her life. She did, however, enjoy horses and drove her father five miles to the station every day. It was only when her injuries confined her to the house that she began writing *Black Beauty* in the 1870s.
Sewell’s unique twist was to write the novel from the perspective of a gentle and intelligent horse. It is this unusual point of view which ensured the novel’s immediate popularity, that it has never gone out of print, and that it has been consciously emulated many times (as in the Pullein-Thompson series *Black Ebony*, *Black Velvet*, etc).
Also, this use of an animal perspective is why I am classing this work as fantasy or maybe an SF-analogue in which she explores the point of view of a non-human. It’s certainly not straight fiction.
Black Beauty is an unusually articulate and rational horse who provides a running commentary on all the ways in which human cruelty, frailty, carelessness, and vanity impact on the dumb animals under their care. Only three of Black Beauty’s owners are genuinely competent and caring owners, and the others serve to point out various practices which Sewell condemns. According to Wikipedia one of these practices – using a bearing rein to force the horse’s head back because it was fashionable – fell out of favour as a result of Sewell’s stinging condemnation of its cruelty. *Zebra363*, my equine expert, confirms that the bearing rein is no longer generally used.
Sewell at several points has various good characters stop and urge others to not mistreat horses. This is always applauded by Black Beauty, and the arguments that the characters make are often put in explicitly religious terms. One character says that cruelty to animals is ‘the mark of the Devil’s work’. Another says that ‘we have no right to distress any of God's creatures without a very good reason; 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.’
Black Beauty himself never comments on God’s stance on cruelty to animals. Perhaps this would have been a step too far for Victorians to contemplate – it verges on the unbiblical – but Sewell uses multiple versions of the same rescue scenario to make her argument that God wants humans to protect animals.
I had not read an unedited version of this story before and it was the repetitious nature of the plot which surprised me. Basically Black Beauty goes through a lot of owners, and virtually all of them provide an opportunity for Black Beauty to comment on the need for people to improve their treatment of animals. (This was perhaps edited out of the version I had because it was deemed too gruelling for children? Sewell did originally intend the work for adults, particularly cabmen and horse owners, not children.)
Having said that it is repetitious, I sound as though I did not enjoy it. Not so. The death of Ginger, the companion of Black Beauty’s youth, as an overworked cab horse continues to be terribly moving. (It made me weep as a child). The image of Black Beauty standing over the dead body of the drunken groom is vivid. (I have no memory of this as a child - perhaps edited out). The race where Black Beauty chases after a runaway horse is exciting. (This I do remember as thrilling - and it still is). The story really does hold up.
Anna Sewell did, of course, only write one novel, but she was at the same time influenced by those around her (and she would possibly have written more if she had not lived only long enough to see her novel become a runaway success). To start with, there was the influence of her mother who wrote simple moral tales which were very popular and which Sewell helped edit. Then there was the influence of Horace Bushnell who inspired her to write a popular story promoting kindness to animals.
Sewell suffered an accident when she was fourteen which left her generally unable to walk for the rest of her life. She did, however, enjoy horses and drove her father five miles to the station every day. It was only when her injuries confined her to the house that she began writing *Black Beauty* in the 1870s.
Sewell’s unique twist was to write the novel from the perspective of a gentle and intelligent horse. It is this unusual point of view which ensured the novel’s immediate popularity, that it has never gone out of print, and that it has been consciously emulated many times (as in the Pullein-Thompson series *Black Ebony*, *Black Velvet*, etc).
Also, this use of an animal perspective is why I am classing this work as fantasy or maybe an SF-analogue in which she explores the point of view of a non-human. It’s certainly not straight fiction.
Black Beauty is an unusually articulate and rational horse who provides a running commentary on all the ways in which human cruelty, frailty, carelessness, and vanity impact on the dumb animals under their care. Only three of Black Beauty’s owners are genuinely competent and caring owners, and the others serve to point out various practices which Sewell condemns. According to Wikipedia one of these practices – using a bearing rein to force the horse’s head back because it was fashionable – fell out of favour as a result of Sewell’s stinging condemnation of its cruelty. *Zebra363*, my equine expert, confirms that the bearing rein is no longer generally used.
Sewell at several points has various good characters stop and urge others to not mistreat horses. This is always applauded by Black Beauty, and the arguments that the characters make are often put in explicitly religious terms. One character says that cruelty to animals is ‘the mark of the Devil’s work’. Another says that ‘we have no right to distress any of God's creatures without a very good reason; 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.’
Black Beauty himself never comments on God’s stance on cruelty to animals. Perhaps this would have been a step too far for Victorians to contemplate – it verges on the unbiblical – but Sewell uses multiple versions of the same rescue scenario to make her argument that God wants humans to protect animals.
I had not read an unedited version of this story before and it was the repetitious nature of the plot which surprised me. Basically Black Beauty goes through a lot of owners, and virtually all of them provide an opportunity for Black Beauty to comment on the need for people to improve their treatment of animals. (This was perhaps edited out of the version I had because it was deemed too gruelling for children? Sewell did originally intend the work for adults, particularly cabmen and horse owners, not children.)
Having said that it is repetitious, I sound as though I did not enjoy it. Not so. The death of Ginger, the companion of Black Beauty’s youth, as an overworked cab horse continues to be terribly moving. (It made me weep as a child). The image of Black Beauty standing over the dead body of the drunken groom is vivid. (I have no memory of this as a child - perhaps edited out). The race where Black Beauty chases after a runaway horse is exciting. (This I do remember as thrilling - and it still is). The story really does hold up.
