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 is happy in his new home; he has all the food he needs and a wonderful stable. But he does miss the liberty he enjoyed as a colt. Now, he has to stand every day in the stable unless someone needs him—and then he has to be steady and quiet. He’s not complaining; this is just how it is. But for a young horse used to galloping all over a field whenever he feels like it, it’s hard. When Black Beauty gets less exercise than usual, he occasionally scares John by leaping around a bit. John remains patient and takes Black Beauty for brisk trots. Some grooms think spirited horses are skittish and punish them, but John isn’t like that.
Not everything is the most ideal at Birtwick, but Black Beauty attributes not having “liberty” (by which he means time running free in a field) to the simple fact of being an adult working horse. However, he also details how John goes to great lengths to make sure Black Beauty and the other horses get the exercise they need, and aren’t punished for acting like normal horses. This, he suggests, marks John as an exceptional groom. But this is also a message for readers that spirited horses aren’t skittish, they just need exercise.
Themes
On some summer Sundays, the horses do get their liberty for a few hours while Squire Gordon and his family are at church. In the paddock or the orchard, they can enjoy the soft grass on their feet, gallop, roll, and nibble the grass. Under the shady chestnut tree, they have time to talk.
While the Gordons take their day of rest and attend church services, the horses get a similar day of rest in the paddock or orchard. Black Beauty characterizes this time as integral to his happy outlook, highlighting the importance of rest to a horse’s wellbeing.
Themes
