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Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Black Beauty, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Horse Care, Abuse, and Neglect
Class, Transportation, and Victorian England
Good, Evil, and Power
Dignity and Religion
Summary
Analysis
Black Beauty also suffers at the hands of people who drive using the “steam-engine style.” These people believe horses are like small steam engines and can go forever, no matter how heavy the load is or how difficult the roads are. They never get out to help the horse going uphill—they paid to ride, and so the horse will keep going. These drivers are exhausting; Black Beauty would rather go twice as far with a good driver. They also seldom put the drag (brake) on going downhill, which causes accidents; and they sometimes forget to take the drag off at the bottom. Instead of starting off slowly, they also head off at full speed—and pull their horses up way too fast.
The steam-engine drivers essentially refuse to acknowledge that horses are living, feeling beings who, like people, get tired. These people essentially are extremely entitled, in addition to possibly being uneducated about horses. In describing them, Black Beauty again highlights how powerless horses are: he can’t tell these drivers to engage or disengage the drag, and he can’t tell them that he really needs them to get out and walk to give him a break. As a horse, he’s at their mercy.
Themes
Literary Devices
Once, Black Beauty is out pulling with Rory; they have their own driver who’s considerate and gentle. But as they reach a sharp turn with a hedge that means they can’t see around it, Black Beauty hears a horse coming at them quickly—and the oncoming horse and gig run right into Rory. The shaft goes right through Rory’s chest, though it doesn’t kill him. He’s eventually sold to cart coal, which is one of the most difficult and horrific jobs for horses.
Black Beauty implies that the oncoming driver is a steam-engine type—and Rory’s injury shows how dangerous that type of driving is. Moreover, Rory is ruined in much the same way Black Beauty was, and this means he’s sold further down the class ladder—into one of the worst jobs for horses. Horses, this shows, are some of the worst victims of poor driving and of the accidents poor driving causes.
Themes
After this, Black Beauty begins pulling the carriage with a mare named Peggy. She’s lovely and sweet, but anxious. The first time they go out together, Black Beauty notices that Peggy has an odd pace. She trots a few paces and then throws in a canter stride, which is very unpleasant for Black Beauty. When they get home, Peggy explains that she knows her paces are bad—but her legs are so short that she can’t keep up. Her first home was with a kind clergyman who didn’t care that she’s not very fast, but her second master whipped her and encouraged her odd gait. Eventually, Peggy is sold to two ladies who want a gentle horse, not a fast one.
Peggy’s story shows how her second owner was far more interested in getting what he wanted out of her (speed) than in letting Peggy do what she does best, and work at her own pace. He didn’t respect what Peggy’s body can do, and so Peggy’s natural gaits—which sound slow, but otherwise fine—are destroyed. However, Peggy’s happy ending offers some hope that not all is lost for Black Beauty, or indeed, the other horses in the novel whom Black Beauty meets. Kind, respectful owners are out there, but they’re perhaps rarer than one might like to think.
Themes
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Peggy’s replacement is a young horse with a bad habit of spooking. He tells Black Beauty that he’s always been timid, and his first master used to whip him when he’d turn his head to see things while wearing blinkers. That just made him more afraid. Once, the horse says, someone told his master not to do that, as whipping a scared horse just scares them more. But he can never figure out what’s scary and what’s not if he can’t look at things.
This nameless horse’s story adds credence to what Sir Oliver said about blinkers earlier in the novel: that they’re dangerous and don’t actually help horses be less afraid. The horse’s master also doesn’t seem to realize that this horse is naturally inclined to be nervous and afraid of things. In this way, the owner doesn’t respect the horse he has—instead, he tries to whip the horse into becoming the horse he wants.
Themes
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Occasionally, Black Beauty does experience good driving. Once, he takes the light gig to a house where a gentleman checks the fit of the harness and asks the ostler to remove Black Beauty’s curb bit (a harsher bit that uses leverage). The man’s skillful driving makes Black Beauty happy and proud. Eventually, this gentleman convinces Black Beauty’s master to sell him to a friend, Mr. Barry.
The change in Black Beauty when he’s driven by this kind gentleman is pronounced. It shows how important being a good horseperson is—and what a positive effect it has on the horse. And hopefully, having a new life with Mr. Barry will save Black Beauty from the dangers and indignities of being a job-horse.
Themes
