Black Beauty By Anna Sewell: An Analysis

1283 Words6 Pages
Black Beauty by Anna Sewell was evolutionary in the fact that a book had never been written from the point of view of an animal prior to this novel. This allowed people to view animals in a different perspective because it illustrates that the world is filled with beings that are treated like objects but should not be. Giving an animal a point of view makes it difficult for one to mistreat or be cruel to a being with emotional and mental capacities similar to that of a human. Many instances throughout the novel draw a parallel between human and animal slavery. In chapter three, Black Beauty is being shipped elsewhere and his mother wishes he is lucky enough to fall into good hands but it is unsure where or with whom a horse may end up during…show more content…
For many centuries throughout history, both humans and animals have acted as slaves and tools to superior humans. Both humans and animals have suffered from terror due to being hunted, tormented, or injured. Both have been treated as a piece of property rather than individuals with emotions and feelings, driven to a certain extent of physical and physiological defeat, and objectified for reason without justification. I fully understand how some humans imagine the comparison between human and animal slavery to be overstated and taken too far because humans relate more easily to other humans and can imagine their pain on a more personal level. Humans tend to find more sympathy with their own species yet they cannot find a way to relate how abuse to nonhumans is just as detrimental and harmful. However, animals share the same ability to experience pain and suffering from lack of freedom, rights, torture, and loss of loved ones as humans do. As stated in The Dreaded Comparison, “the animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than black people were made for whites or women for men” (Walker). Many others may argue that animals do not have the same mental or emotional capacity as humans and therefore and not affected by pain or enslavement the same way. On the contrary, there are no existing morally relevant differences between…show more content…
This does not mean I do not believe the suffering of humans under slavery was not a big deal, but rather the suffering of animals need to exemplified with greater importance than it currently does. Although animals have not endured world renowned occurrences such as the Holocaust, day by day animals are mistreated to a similar degree but are not even noticed. Slaughter houses, animal auctions, and food industries cause pain and mistreatment to innocence animals just as humans have once been treated. Both animals and humans have endured similar hardship of chains, crammed spaces, punishment for rebellion, branding throughout history. As stated in the Smith quote above, our society has struggled through human rights, gay rights, and we are not caught in the middle of animal rights; each one similar to the last. For those who argue that equating human slaves with animal slaves is disrespectful do not fully understand the point of arguing for animal rights. For centuries, the mistreatment of animals has been justified by humans because they claim animals lack certain characteristics that humans have making them a superior species just as it was once okay for humans to use other humans as slaves due to the fact that they too lacked “special” characteristics. Truly the only characteristic that should be required or needed for ethical

    More about Black Beauty By Anna Sewell: An Analysis

      Open Document