Black Beauty 1

The first page of Black Beauty invokes memories of childhood and allows the reader to sympathize with Black Beauty within sentences because the first person account makes him seem human, “While I was young I lived upon my mother’s milk, as I could not eat grass. In the daytime I ran by her side, and at night I lay down close to her.” [1] If I were writing an autobiography (assuming I could remember my first few days of infancy) a sentence would similarly read: “While I was young I lived upon my mother’s milk, as I could not eat solid food. In the daytime she held me by her side, and at night I lay close to her in my crib.” The parallel between a horse’s infancy and a child’s is undeniable, as it is with many animals. Sewell calls to the reader’s sympathetic imagination from the start, perhaps because Sewell was crippled at a young age and knew what it was like to be hurt and unable to function like her peers. The way Black Beauty’s mom talks to him is exactly like my mother would talk to me when I was in with the wrong crowd or misbehaving: “You have been well bred and well born; your father has a great name in these parts, and you grandfather won the cup two years at the Newmarket races; your grandmother had the sweetest temper of any horse I ever knew, and I think you have never seen me kick or bite. I hope you will grow up gentle and good…”[2] When I got a ticket in high school, my parents would reprimand me telling me “You know better, Caroline. Now everyone is going to be talking about you, and assume we aren’t doing a good job.” Harsh.

The notion of confusion is also a universal one. In the chapter “The Fire” Black Beauty wakes up and is confused by the uncomfortable feeling caused by the smoke, and “I did not know what it was, but there was something in the sound so strange that it made me tremble all over.”[3] I have had the same feeling, but instead of a fire it was a tornado: I was Lake Texoma with my family and I woke up to an unfamiliar jolt and a flash of lights, then complete darkness. I couldn’t see anything, but my entire body shook from fear. The feeling of confusion and fear is something that is experienced by all, and should help us make the sympathetic connection with animals.


When Reuben is killed, there is an inquest held, and Black Beauty is “put on trial” and cleared of blame, just like a human would be put on trial and charged or set free. The first person nature of Black Beauty makes the reader sympathize more with him because it seems like you are reading the autobiography of a peer, and can relate to so many of his stories. I think this makes is more interesting to read and easier to read because the audience is held more captivated by the similar experiences.

[1] Sewell, 3.
[2] Sewell, 4.
[3] Sewell, 60.