Anna Sewell’s Black Beauty–a Story Which Made A Difference

ARGUMENT

Given the fact that I’m an animal lover I was excited when I’ve found out that I can make my dissertation paper on animal tales. Moreover, being the proud owner of a fifteen year Burmese cat and of an eight month Labrador retriever, I can say that Anna Sewell’s Black Beauty, is like a guide for animal owners. What captivated me from the very beginning was the fact that Anna Sewell wrote the book on the behalf of those which don’t speak for themselves and gave them voice hoping that Black Beauty’s story will change the way people treat animals. The author also states that if animals don’t speak this doesn’t mean that they don’t feel pain or joy.

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.

The Industrial Revolution, from the beginning of the nineteenth century when wars, transportation, agriculture and almost everything was fueled by horse power, was a time when horses were overworked and pushed past the point of exhaustion. Often, because horse owners didn’t know how to treat their animals many problems regarding horses’ behavior occurred. I think this is the reason why the author humanized her characters, in order to make us aware that, just like us, they should be treated with respect and empathy.

Anna Sewell grew up in a Quaker family, where she learnt to love and respect both humans and animals since an early age. Then, since the age of fourteen, due to her legs problem, Anna Sewell started to depend on horses. Of course, those who didn’t have the pleasure to own a household pet, or haven’t had the chance of being close to an animal can’t understand how some of us treat our animals like our own kind: take them into our houses, care for them and even suffer to their loss. I understand why people are so reluctant when it comes to pets or animals in general because until recently I couldn’t understand this relationship either. The thing is that only after you spend some time near them you start to observe their behavior and their reactions in different stages of their growth. Since Anna Sewell depended on horses from her adolescence, by the time she had started to write Black Beauty, at the age of 51, she had plenty of time to observe and understand a horse’s needs. I think that taking into account the ease that she put word’s into her characters’ mouths, she must have been not only a real animal lover but a good observer too, and her love and caring nature for God’s creatures came as a reward from God himself in time of need.

As the cave drawings illustrate, the animal and mankind interaction dates way back in prehistory. This fundamental bond continues nowadays making this connection crucial for the health and prosperity of both species. At first, animals have been looked at as a source of food, supplying mankind with nourishing amounts of poultry, pork, beef, dairy products and eggs. Then, animals were seen as companions, so they became close related with humans.

What I want to show in this dissertation paper is the fact that even if we think we are superior to animals, we still have a lot to learn from them. This paper wants to highlight the fact that it’s vital that we get rid of some old concepts which used to characterize us in the relationship with animals: their place is in the stable; their feelings doesn’t matter; it’s not a problem if they are out in the rain–they are animals anyway; if they are ill we know what’s to be done… In other words, burden animals or pets were, and unfortunately they are still regarded as working animals which make our lives easier. I want to make people see that it is wrong to think that as long as we provide an animal food and all "life necessities" the rest doesn't matter. Just like us, animals have needs and in order to function at their best people have to watch at their well-being. Regarding horses, Dede Beasley, an equine therapist at The Ranch–a treatment center which provides specialized treatment for a full spectrum of issues, explains:

A happy horse is a safe horse. When you give a horse the highest regard, you become a member of its herd. Then it can help people be happy so they, too, can be safe.

The questions to be raised while working at this paper are: Do animals/horses have feelings? Do they have a sense of rationality? Does the author manage to bring some improvements in the way horse owners treat their horses by writing this book? Can Black Beauty’s story be considered a moral one? Can we teach children moral values using Black Beauty’s story?

The thesis is discussed from multiple perspectives and contains themes of major importance. The work is structured on 3 chapters. The first chapter deals with the presentation of the animal story as a genre and underlines the importance of animal stories in shaping children’s behavior in what concerns the animals’ welfare. It also contains interesting facts regarding the health benefits of animals’ therapy on both children and adults and the horses’ contribution to the world’s progress. The second chapter reveals the main idea of my thesis, namely the power and impact of Anna Sewell’s masterpiece on horse owners. Black Beauty is analyzed from many perspectives in order to reveal the importance of this book over the years. The third chapter presents the moral dimensions through Anna Sewell’s work on children’s emotional growth and improving behavior. Considering that Black Beauty’s stories can be used in the class like teaching tools to learn our young generation to have mercy with those less fortunate, as well as animals, I’ve included in my thesis some practical activities.

I chose this theme because I think it is our duty as teachers to encourage children to love and treat with kindness those who cannot speak for themselves. Teaching kindness and respect for animals is the foundation stone in teaching children empathy. Given the fact that by being empathic in relations with animals helps children learn to value their own kind, this might be the most valuable life lessons that both teachers and parents can pass along to them. To back up the necessity of humane education, in 1933, the National Parent–Teacher Association Congress, made public the following statement:

Children trained to extend justice, kindness, and mercy to animals become more just, kind and considerate in their relations to each other.  Character training along these lines will result in men and women of broader sympathies, more humane, more law-abiding – in every respect more valuable citizens.

INTRODUCTION

In general, stories are useful tools for teaching and introducing new ideas. By reading children can learn the importance of sharing, the passage of time or empathy for others. Moreover, animal stories or stories based on real-life can also help children with their own life experience – it shows them how different the world they live in is, and that some people have extremely different lives to theirs. As Anderson said, the greatest thing about learning through stories is that the process is carried out in a natural manner.

People have always told stories; it is the oldest form of remembering. In ancient times, long before written language was developed, people told stories to preserve the history, traditions, desires, and taboos of their social groups. Each generation told their stories to the next, which in turn told the stories to the youth of the generation that followed them. (Anderson,81).

Children learn just by reading the story, without including any teaching act. Animals and animal stories are thought to be crucial for children’s evolution because they contribute to the development of a child’s imagination, being a vital part of the growing process. Children are active observers and they have the ability of learning about themselves from, and through animals as story characters. The special bond between young readers and animals makes from animal stories one of the most valued genre in children’s fiction. Both parents and teachers can use this animal–child connection to teach children to respect other people.

Moreover, because just like us, animals are living beings and because children interact so well with animals, they can bring a major contribution in shaping children’s behavior. Anna Sewell’s Black Beauty, the first and the last novel of the author, is the perfect early example of animal story in children’s literature, which had a great impact on both adults and children. Black Beauty has been considered to have played an important part in laying the foundations of this genre. Anna Sewell’s story represents a significant part of learning and encouraging young readers to be curious about literature. As Mark Twain once said, "The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read".

Presentation of the author

Anna Sewell was born on March 30, 1820, in Yarmouth, Norfolk, England into a devoted Quaker family. A part of Quaker’s belief system revolved around showing love and compassion for those in less fortunate circumstances, which included animals. Her father was Isaac Phillip Sewell (1793-1879), was a banker, and her mother, Mary Wright Sewell (1798- 1884) was a successful author of children’s books. She had one sibling, a young brother named Philip.

Anna and her mother were very close, and Mary home schooled Anna and Phillip. Anna got an early start in writing by editing her mother’s books. Mary’s books were very popular during the era but have faded into obscurity since.

The Sewell family moved many times due to financial strains, but Anna and Phillip often returned to Norfolk to stay with their grandparents at their Dudwick Farm in Buxton, where Anna first learned to ride. When Anna was 14, she slipped and sprained her ankle. The ankle refused to heal, and Anna was unable to lead a normal life due to the severe pain.  Her father took a job in Brighton in 1836, in the hope that the climate there would help to cure her. Despite this, and most likely because of mistreatment of her injury, for the rest of her life Anna was unable to stand without a crutch or to walk for any length of time. For greater mobility, she frequently used horse-drawn carriages, which contributed to her love of horses and concern for the humane treatment of animals. Anna learned to rely on horses for her needs and became a competent rider and driver.

Her love for horses inspired Anna to write her book, and she combined her knowledge of horses with her compassionate beliefs to give voice to the horses she saw suffering nearly every day. She often said she wrote the book to “induce kindness, sympathy, and an understanding treatment of horses.”(qtd. In Bayley,272) She began writing Black Beauty in 1871 and worked on the project for six years as her health deteriorated and kept her confined to her parents’ home. In November 1871 she recorded in her diary, “I am writing the life of a horse and getting dolls and boxes ready for Christmas.” (qtd. in Chitty, 164) As she became weaker, she often dictated to her mother, who transcribed her words. She completed the book in 1877. Jarrold and Sons, published it later that year. Although it is now considered a children's classic, she originally wrote it for those who worked with horses.

Anna never saw the profound impact her book had over the world, as she passed away on April 25, 1878, shortly after Black Beauty went to print.

This is the cover of the first edition of Black Beauty, published in 1877 by Jarrold and Sons. Courtesy of wikimedia commons.

CHAPTER 1: THE ANIMAL STORY AS A GENRE

Animal stories are one of the many genres in children’s literature and their origins are in myths, folktales and legends. Animals have been the main protagonists in fables, which have brought a great improvement in children’s literature. The association between children and stories about animals exists from ancient times therefore stories in which animals are the main heroes are among the most popular in children’s fiction. In these stories animals have human characteristics – they act like humans and yet, they are so different. Children find animal characters more memorable and enjoyable than human characters because it’s easy for them to identify themselves by analogy. Children are active observers and they have the ability of learning about themselves from, and through animals as story characters. The special bond between young readers and animals makes from animal stories one of the most appreciate genre in children’s fiction.

In the encyclopedia The Cambridge Guide to Children’s Books in English, the authors highlight the fact that in common stories, animals can have exemplary, symbolic and environmental functions. According to the authors, “fables can be characterized as predominately exemplary’’ (32) even if they include satire and survival stories. Fables mirror life by reflecting human qualities or weaknesses and provide a moral value. Modern children’s stories find their roots in Aesop’s fables and in fables from other cultures such as: Trickster Tales, the Anancy stories from West Africa, the Coyote stories from American Southwest, and the Adventure of Brer rabbit.

Fairy tales and folk tales animal characters fulfill the symbolic function, while the environmental function can be traced, first, in Geoffrey Chaucer and Robert Henryson’s literary fables. Since the middle of the 18th century animal stories started to be designed especially for young readers. Beginning with the nineteenth century more environmental details of the natural world were introduced in children’s fiction. The first two writers who highlighted the influence of environment and heredity over animals were Henry Williamson (in Tarka the Otter, 1972, and Salar the Salmon, 1929) and Jack London (in The call of the wild, 1903, White Fang, 1905).

The authors state that after fables, the most powerful children’s stories were the moral tales which “were inspired by Rousseau and the cult of sentimentalist’’ (33). Moral tales were one of the main themes in children's literature, between 1780 and 1830, because they provided life lessons for young readers. Children were taught to show respect towards animals and nature. In the encyclopedia mentioned above, the authors underline the fact that moral tales, from late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, were the foundation stone for a number of stories which have contributed to the development of animal fiction. Here we can mention Dorothy Killner’s Perambulations of a Mouse (1783), a moral story told from the point of view of animal itself, Anna Sewell’s Black Beauty:The Autobiography of a Horse (1877), a classics story of children’s literature, and Marshall Saunders’s Beautiful Joe (1894). Children are the direct target of these books because they are the promoters of tomorrow in what concerns the animals’ welfare.

In the 20th century wild animal protagonists were mainly replaced by domesticated animals, namely: horses, ponies, dogs and sometimes cats. This link between man and animal pleased both young and adult readers, and children became more and more interested in stories originally written for adults. The authors mentioned here Enid Bagnold’s National Velvet (1930), Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings’s The Yearling (1938), Eric Knight’s Lassie Come-Home (1940) and Mary O’Hara’s Flicka trilogy (1941/1950). Pony stories were preferred by British readers while horse stories were preferred by American readers.

Every day life is reflected in animal stories and they become a bridge between the past and the present by influencing readers’ lives, children or adults, and making them aware of their significance.

The connection between humans and animals

It is well known that having a pet can be really benefic for our mental and physical health. Steve Feldman, Executive Director of The Human-Animal Bond Research Initiative (HABRI) Foundation, a non-profit research and education organization, speaks in an interview for Ontario SPCA about research which has revealed how animals have a great health impact on people. Pets help children, and not only, to overcome anxiety; they reduce stress, encourage conversation and, may also offer therapy. “You learn all kinds of important health information… Pets can be used to influence important health decisions, like quitting smoking.” One of HABRI’s research has shown that pet owners have better heart health and the recovery after heart problems is easier for those who own a pet. “If you have a heart attack”, he says” if you have a pet you’re more likely to be alive one year later than if you don’t.” Steve Feldman also mentions about the importance of animals in the classroom and underlines the fact that animals increase empathy and make children more responsible.

Meghan Vivo, a writer for Elements Behavioral Health, a network of addiction treatment programs that includes The Ranch at Piney River outside Nashville, speaks in her article “5 Lessons People Can Learn From Horses in Equine Therapy”, about the benefits of equine therapy. In this article, Dede Beasley, an equine therapist at The Ranch, a rehabilitation centre states that there are similarities between horses and people, “Like people, horses are social beings whose herd dynamics are remarkably similar to the family system.” According to this article, research has shown that equine therapy is very efficient: “it lowers blood pressure and heart rate, alleviates stress, and reduces symptoms of anxiety and depression.” Moreover, with horses help people can develop different skills, which are essential for having a healthy life, namely: identifying and coping with feelings, communication skills, setting boundaries, overcoming fears and trust.

Nowadays, more and more people are having addiction, trauma or mental health problems and the first step in coping with our problems is to identify them. Horses feel through their body and heart and their unique ability to sense emotions makes them react according to our feelings.

If someone is angry or aggressive, the horse may become obstinate. If the person is anxious, the horse may get skittish. But when approached by someone who is open and calm, the horse is more likely to respond in kind. Witnessing the horse’s response promotes self-awareness and can help people see themselves in a more realistic way. (Meghan Vivo)

People who have problems in relating or getting close with other people, can also solve their problems with the help of horses. During their interaction with the horses, people have the chance to learn how to come close to others with “respect and awareness.” Beasley says that by establishing a close relation with horses, people improve their communication problems, too.

As a sophisticated herd animal, horses immediately begin building relationships with people as members of their herd. People then get to decide whether they will hold fast to their old ways of interacting or take this unique opportunity to develop a new kind of relationship. (qtd. in “5 Lessons People Can Learn From Horses in Equine Therapy”, Meghan Vivo.web)

These are just a few examples of the benefits that equine therapy can have on people. Even if we are talking about disabilities, accepting responsibility, taking care of one self and others, or other issues, all contribute to the process of change. Those who are close related with horses understand their power to influence people and they are aware that this relationship helps them in a positive way.

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1.2 Horses and humans along the history

While companion animals were and are regarded as good for people, we don’t have to forget that working animals have contributed to the development of mankind. Since ancient times and up to present, horses have changed the world around us. Man’s uses of horses have deeply shaped the way we fight wars, travel and the way we work. In the preface of her paper Timeline of the Development of the Horse, written in the series “Sino- Platonic Papers”, Beverley Davis wants to point out the fact that horses may be considered one of the animals which had a huge contribution to human civilization.

Except possibly for the dog, no animal has contributed more to humanity than the horse. It has fed and sheltered us, and provided us with clothing and transportation; it has been both worshipped as a god and slaughtered to appease the gods. (Beverly Davis. Web)

Known for their strength, speed and endurance, they were considered the asset or the perfect weapon in wartime. Time after time, from Asia to Europe to the Americas, the use of horses in war has changed the balance of power between civilizations. From about the 800s to the late 1800s, in Japan the most feared warriors were the samurai because of their special weapon: the horse. The European Knights, just like Japanese samurai, shared the same lethal weapon. According to The Mythology, Greeks managed to conquer the city of Troy using a trap horse–The Trojan Horse.

In 1914, at the beginning of World War I, cavalry charges have played an important role as offensive tactic. By the end of the war, the technology and the new military tactics proved that both humans and horses were defenseless in front of modern weapons such as: airplanes, tanks or machine guns. However, the horses’ job didn’t stop there. They became active but this time behind the lines, transporting people, supplies and weapons. Steven Spielberg’s epic film “War Horse” set during the Great War, reminded of the horses which lost their lives on battle fields and brought their tribute to the progress of civilization. In the 1400s, the Spanish knight Gutierre Diaz de Games, said:

There is no other beast which so befits a knight as a good horse… A brave man mounted on a good horse may do more in an hour of fighting than ten or maybe a hundred could have done afoot. SURSA

Horses made history not only in war time but as working animals too. During the age of the machine (the nineteenth century) people have still counted on these powerful animals for different jobs: pulling heavy weights, cutting down forests or providing transport. At those times horses and machines were often seen working side by side, although horses had proved to be, in some situations, more efficient than machines. Even though the revelation of 1850s was the steam-power engine, still without the horses’ effectiveness the industry couldn’t have advanced – they were the ones that carried the heavy engines and have proved once more their efficiency. It’s no doubt that the bond between man and horse was impressive and by working side by side they built the world we live in, in many noticeable ways.

Horse-drawn steam fire engine, Ambler, Pennsylvania (made in Seneca Falls, New York), 1896. Denis Finnin/AMNH

Chapter 2: Black Beauty– a horse to remember

Black Beauty –The Autobiography of a Horse, is one of the most famous children’s books of the nineteenth century. It is said that the book has been sold in more than forty million copies around the world. It has been translated into different languages and there are several film adaptations. The book gained its popularity by presenting the horse and its life from a new perspective. In the encyclopedia The Cambridge Guide to Children’s Books in English, Peter Holindale states that Anna Sewell’s intention was to write a book for people who were in charge of horses and their well-being. Subsequently, the author succeeded to captivate young readers too, by using the most evident features of a “children’s story”: talking animals and ending the story in a happy tone. Nevertheless, it represents a considerable starting point of education for human beings. In the paper mentioned above, Peter Holindale says that Black Beauty is like a manual, which teaches us to treat each other with respect, decency and compassion.

Written for adults with modest literacy and little leisure for reading, the book is linguistically undemanding but narratively powerful, its episodes unified by its sympathetic central figure, his moving- life story, and his naive but telling perspective on human behaviour. (Peter Holindale, 85)

According to the author, Black Beauty portrays the story of its life from the time he was a foal “on a country estate” through many owners and events, both good and bad to a “consolatory happy ending”.

The first part of the book describes Beauty's birth in a meadow and the time spent with his mother who advises him from early beginnings how to behave in order to have a good, long life. Being sold, he is separated from his beloved mom, but he makes friends and what’s more important is the fact that his new owner is an animal lover. In the second part, Beauty and his new friend Ginger are sold again, and they experience many hardships: they are maltreated and uncared for. In the third part Beauty is injured and he is sold again to Jerry, a cab driver. After Jerry illness get’s out of control, Beauty is sold again and again until, in the fourth part, finally he reunites with his old groom, Joe Green, who makes Beauty’s last days carefree.

2.1. Major themes in Black Beauty

The central theme is that of animals and the way they are treated, their well-being and the heartless perspective of people and animal rights. The author attempts to portray through Black Beauty’s story that animals feel pain just as we do, and thus maltreating animals should be regarded as an unacceptable practice. Unfortunately, as Anna Sewell points out in the book, this practice is widespread because forced by poverty, working-men, pushed their horses beyond their limits. Black Beauty itself underlines how important is to be treated with gentleness:

Oh! if people knew what a comfort to horses a light hand is, and how it keeps a good mouth and a good temper, they surely would not chuck, and drag, and pull at the rein as they often do.

(BB. 32)

Black Beauty and his friends had been confronted through their lives with numerous examples of animal abuse: the uncomfortable “bit”, the blinkers, the use of the saddle, the heavy duty of pulling overloaded carts and the painful whip on their back. But, probably, the most painful horse practices of Victorian era were the use of “bearing reins” and the fashion of docking horse’s tail just for the sake of fashion. Sir Oliver, an old horse whose tail was docked, confesses how painful and how unnecessary this practice was, leaving him vulnerable to insects and infection.

Dreadful, ah! it was dreadful; but it was not only the pain, though that was terrible and lasted a long time; it was not only the indignity of having my best ornament taken from me, though that was bad; but it was this, how could I ever brush the flies off my sides and my hind legs anymore?… I tell you it is a lifelong wrong, and a lifelong loss; but thank heaven, they don't do it now. (BB. 33)

In my opinion, Anna Sewell wanted to make horse owners or men who had horses in their care aware of the fact that the well-being of their horses should come before fashion, “the wickedest things in the world”. She also portrays how both owner and horse could have a more peaceful co-existence if they had a peaceful relationship based on compassion and animal welfare. From Sir Oliver’s, Black Beauty’s old friend, way of thinking we have to acknowledge that we are no more entitled than our animals to have a good life. His words to the people are full of contempt:

Why don't they cut their own children's ears into points to make them look sharp? Why don't they cut the end off their noses to make them look plucky? One would be just as sensible as the other. What right have they to torment and disfigure God's creatures?" (BB. 34)

Even if we think we are superior to animals, there are times when humans prove to be inferior regarding their attitude to animals. These so called “dumb animals” are dumb in the way they cannot speak but this doesn’t mean they can’t feel the pain. Furthermore, their incapacity of expressing their feelings doesn’t give us the right to treat them with ignorance and brutality. According to Mr. Douglas, one of Black Beauty’s masters, we will pay for our deeds.

… we shall all have to be judged according to our works, whether they be toward man or toward beast.(BB. 38)

For young readers Black Beauty is an enjoyable story revealed by a horse’s point of view, while adult readers who can read between the lines would be able to acknowledge the story’s main message, namely: ”to induce kindness, sympathy, and an understanding treatment of horses,” as Anna Sewell herself stated.

Another important theme of Black Beauty’s, is the idea that one should always to do good, if he/she wants to receive good in return. The Duchess, Black Beauty’s mother, teaches him how to behave in order to have a good life, just like in real life mothers do with their children.

I wish you to pay attention to what I am going to say to you. The colts who live here are very good colts, but they are cart-horse colts, and of course they have not learned manners… and I think you have never seen me kick or bite. I hope you will grow up gentle and good, and never learn bad ways; do your work with a good will, lift your feet up well when you trot, and never bite or kick even in play. (B.B, 6)

Black Beauty sticks to his mother’s advice, he always does his best and his lifelong stands as an example for his deeds. This golden rule works not just for horses, but for the other characters too, who are rewarded according to their actions. Because of his good character James is promoted; it gets Joe, Squire Gordon’s stable boy a good education after he saves some horses from their drunken master’s hands. The boy is repaid for his kindness when he stands up for the abused horses and John’s appreciation words should be taken into consideration from all of us:

Now I say that with cruelty and oppression it is everybody's business to interfere when they see it; you did right, my boy. (BB. 64)

John becomes famous for his horse lover reputation. Jerry, the cab driver, manages to have a good job in a fine cottage in contrast to his fellow drivers who used to make fun of his principles, when he refused to work on Sundays and insisted on going to church. These are examples which can be held as evidence, proving once more that compassion and kindness is always rewarded.

In her biography Dark Horse: A life of Anna Sewell, Adrienne E. Gavin explains that throughout the book, Anna Sewell introduced “messages not only about cruelty to horses and other animals, but against drinking, hunting, irresponsible smoking, war, ignorance, blindly following party politics, and not keeping Sunday as a day of rest.” Drunkenness is seen like evil in horses’ eyes, because they have to suffer due to their masters’ unconsciousness. For instance, Rueben Smith’s drinking problems made him lose his job several times, and eventually, he got himself killed and caused Black Beauty bad injuries. Due to these health problems he has been sold from one master to another. On the other hand, Anna Sewell offers us a good example through Jerry, the cab driver, who managed to handle his own drinking problems by re-organizing his life and proving that one can change, but it’s a matter of will.

Throughout the story the author gives the readers many examples of the harms of ignorance in order to understand that ignorance is as bad as cruelty. We witness at one of these scenes when, young Joe, forgot to put “the warm cloth” on Beauty after the exhausting ride with the doctor. Due to his negligence and his ignorance, Beauty almost lost his life and John, who cannot accept such a behavior, bursts at Tom, Joe’s father:

Only ignorance! only ignorance! how can you talk about only ignorance? Don't you know that it is the worst thing in the world, next to wickedness? – and which does the most mischief heaven only knows. If people can say, `Oh! I did not know, I did not mean any harm,' they think it is all right. (BB. 62)

Unfortunately, the episode with Joe is not singular, there are many others examples of ignorance and its consequences in the story, but I think that the author’s main concern is to make people see that ignorance may become a matter of life and death so, we can take it as a warning: we should be more responsible when it comes of those who cannot speak for themselves.

Friendship is another theme that we discover in Anna Sewell’s novel. During his story, which spans from his birth and continues until his old age, Beauty is a permanent good observer and a good listener. Guided by his mother’s precious words, he has learnt everything that it had to be learnt from those around him, continually maturing and making friends. Despite having many friends throughout his life, Beauty never forgets any of them: Ginger, his best friend, with which he shares both good and bad moments; Merrylegs, the grey pony with a strong personality, who is more of a companion than a working horse; Sir Oliver, “a fiery old fellow” and Captain, Beauty’s partner as a cab horse. We can see how much his friendships meant for him at the end of the novel, when being close to the end of his life Beauty, relives his special moments with his old friends.

My troubles are all over, and I am at home; and often before I am quite awake, I fancy I am still in the orchard at Birtwick, standing with my old friends under the apple-trees. (BB. 164)

Nevertheless, changing masters is an issue that can be discussed. Beauty and his friends changed several masters along their lives some of them were kind and caring, while there were some who didn’t care about their horses. It’s very clear that a master is very important in an animal’s life, because the animal’s destiny and often his well-being are entirely in his master’s hands. We don't know what's in animals minds when they change their owners, but I'm sure that each owner contributes to the development or to the regression of an animal. When treated with kindness they become loving animals, but on the other hand, violence leads to violence. I think that a good master can make the difference between life and death. "We don't get to choose the people in our lives, for us it's all chance." 

Through Anna Sewell’s novel the reader gets a chance to look back to a disappearing world, a world where one can see horses in action: dragging carts or carriages instead of cars and war horses charging into battle with their riders. Even though the author portrays the life of horses in the nineteenth century, a period long gone, we still have a lot to learn from Beauty’s story, namely: when treated with compassion and gentleness animals serve their owners with devotion.

2.2 Black Beauty an anti-cruelty novel

There is no doubt that Black Beauty had it’s contribution in changing the way people perceived animals. Jane Smiley, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for her novel A Thousand Acres, described  Black Beauty’s impact on readers’ perceptions of animals, on National Public Radio,

As soon as you say that an animal has a point of view, then it’s very difficult to just go and be cruel to that animal. (Stephanie Libo).

She also mentioned that Black Beauty showed “readers that the world is full of beings who should not be treated like objects.”

To write the novel, Anna Sewell used her knowledge, her love for horses, and her position against cruelty of horsemanship in order to raise awareness of some unnecessary and painful practices from those times. The use of bearing rein, the fashion of docking horses’ tails and the fashion of overworking horses inspired the author to write the book. Coree Reuter wrote in her article “Well-behaved women rarely make history: Anna Sewell”, about usage of the bearing rein in nineteenth century and nowadays. According to Coree, nowadays bearing rein or overcheck is used as a piece of safety equipment, while during Beauty’s time it was used to keep carriage horses’ heads up just because they were looking fashionable. Because, back then, the horses were a sign of wealth often their owners used to adjust the bearing rein very tight, just because they looked better in this position. Due to this unnatural position, horses developed “back and spine problems from trying to pull the carriages with their heads up”. They also altered the horses’ vision and balance. Writing this book, Anna Sewell, managed to abolish the bearing rein use, which caused a lot of pain among horses, in nineteenth century, although it is too bad that she couldn’t enjoy of her book’s success. Due to Anna Sewell’s struggle to protect horses of unfair treatments, it is said that her mother insisted that the horses in Anna’s funeral procession wouldn’t wear bearing reins.

Black Beauty has become one of the best-selling novels ever written. According to Claudia D. Johnson and Vernon E. Johnson, authors of the book The Social Impact of the Novel: A Reference Guide, “In the Encyclopedia of Animal Rights and Animal welfare”, Black Beauty can be regarded as the most significant anticruelty novel of all times.

“Many works of literature have been written to promote a change of heart in the cruel treatment of animals, but the first one of significance and the one with the widest impact was without a doubt Anna Sewell’s Black Beauty”.(Stephanie Libo)

The authors mentioned that Black Beauty was compared with the most important social protest, anti-slavery novel in America: Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe.

Anna Sewell’s novel lead to legislation protecting horses, and changed the public’s attitude towards fashionable trends and practices that altered horses’ welfare. Animal welfare organizations received Black Beauty with great enthusiasm. Britain’s Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, took the book and distributed it in thousands of copies as a guide to stable men and cab drivers, with the subtitle The Uncle Tom's Cabin of the Horse.

2.2.1. Anti-cruelty movements in Britain and U.S

By early nineteenth century, in England, anticruelty movements against animals became as important as the humanitarian current that advanced human rights, including the anti-slavery movement and later the movement for woman suffrage.

1800–the first anti-cruelty bill was introduced in Parliament to stop bull-baiting;

1821–“The Treat of Horses Bill”

1822–Colonel Richard Martin introduced the Act preventing cruelty to horses and cattle;

1824–Colonel Richard Martin organized in England “The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals” (SPCA);

1840–with the Queen’s Victoria approval the society’s name became “The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals”;

1860–other Humane Societies were founded in I the U.S;

1866–Henry Bergh organized in New York, “The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals” (ASPCA);

1877–“The American Humane Association” (AHA), with divisions for children and animals, was founded;

1883–“The American Anti-Vivisection Society” was formed in Philadelphia;

1890– “The Audubon Society”.

The animal protection movement in the nineteenth century was regarded as a chapter in the history of attitudes towards violence. According to RSPCA and its sympathizers, a horse beaten to death on the streets of London was considered to be a dangerously irrational act. Dog fights and dog-carts were denounced, but on the other hand fox hunting, for pleasure, by the upper classes was not condemned.

In the nineteenth century, the protection of animals worked as a form of social control. Back then, the animal protection movement followed two principles. The first referred to religious beliefs, namely it was thought have a duty in front of God to treat well each creature and we should not cause unnecessary pain to any living being. The second principle came from the need to isolate violence, as it was regarded as a disease. (Harrison 120)

By the middle of nineteenth century, experimentation on live animals, in order to understand the mechanisms of the most important organs was a common thing due to the development of science. Vivisection operated on small animals, mostly dogs, but there were some cases when even horses replaced dogs as objects of an experiment. People started to oppose to the use of animals in medical laboratory research and the humane movement aimed its attention especially on dogs and cats.

The first anti-vivisection movements in Western Europe occurred in 1880s and 1890s while world’s first restriction of vivisection in 1876, in Britain, was the Act to amend a law relating to cruelty to animals. However, the movement against the use of horses as beast of burden was rejected, but there were movements which militated for the protection of wild animals and birds. And yet, because there was a need of medical research, humane societies agreed that vivisection could be used only if it wasn’t painful, therefore scientist had used anesthesia in order not to cause animals any unnecessary pain.

REFERENCES

http://www.gradesaver.com/black-beauty/study-guide/quotes

http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/horse/how-we-shaped-horses-how-horses-shaped-us/warfare/a-tank-on-legs/

citat Knight guttiere

Sewell, Anna. Black Beauty: The Autobiography of a horse”, F. M. Lupton Publishing Company, New York, 1877 (2008)

Hankins, Justine. “Black Beauty's Secrets: Anna Sewell and the Humane Treatment of Animals.” Best Friends.org. July 2005. Web.

Vivo, Meghan. “An inerview with Dede Beasley, equine therapist at The Ranch.” Recovery Ranch. December 2011. Web

Holindale, Peter. The Cambridge Guide to Children’s Books in English- ”Black Beauty: the Autobiography of a horse”, Cambridge University Press, 2001(pp. 85)

Whitley, David, Foster, John, Rahn, Susan. The Cambridge Guide to Children’s Books in English- ”Animals in fiction”, Cambridge University Press, 2001 (pp. 33-36)

Gamble, Nikki, Yates, Sally. Exploring Children’s Literature Teaching the Language and Reading of Fiction- ”Animals and toys in children’s fiction”, Paul Chapman Publishing, 2002 (pp. 60-61)