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Chapter 17
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
A few days after James leaves, Black Beauty wakes with a start to the stable bell ringing. Before he knows it, John has him saddled and they’re riding up to the main house. Squire Gordon gives John a note to give to the doctor and tells him to ride for Mrs. Gordon’s life. John and Black Beauty gallop through the village and to the tollgate, where John tells the man to leave the gate open for the doctor. They continue on, and Black Beauty feels like he’s never run faster. After eight miles, they reach the doctor’s house. John wakes the doctor and tells him Mrs. Gordon is ill. The doctor says he has no horse to ride at the moment, so John agrees that the doctor can ride Black Beauty back.
It shows how well Squire Gordon treats his horses and his staff that both Black Beauty and John take this midnight ride so seriously and ride so fast. They’re happy to serve him and do this difficult work, galloping miles to help. Things get a bit more difficult for Black Beauty, though, when John allows the doctor to ride him back to Birtwick. Black Beauty is the only available form of transportation—and in this moment, Mrs. Gordon’s health matters more than giving Black Beauty a real rest. So even in Squire Gordon’s exceptional care, Black Beauty still can’t escape that he’s transportation, first and foremost.
Themes
Literary Devices
When the doctor comes out of his house with a whip a minute later, John says he won’t need it—Black Beauty will go forever. The doctor is heavier than John and not a great rider, but he does allow Black Beauty to rest and catch his breath at the big hill. They make it back to Birtwick soon, and Joe takes Black Beauty to the stable. Black Beauty is panting and shaking, and he’s totally wet. Joe is on his own and he does the best he knows how. He offers Black Beauty icy water and grain, and he rubs Black Beauty’s legs and chest. But he doesn’t put Black Beauty’s warm blanket on—so soon, Black Beauty is sore, trembling, and cold. He knows John is eight miles away, so he lies down and tries to sleep.
The novel attributes Black Beauty’s illness to the cold water, but what he suffers from is known today as “tying-up” and is usually caused by a (very painful!) electrolyte imbalance after working too hard. It causes a horse to sweat and its muscles to seize, which Black Beauty describes in this passage. And this happens in part because Joe, though he has good intentions, has no idea that Black Beauty should be covered with a warm blanket and walked until he’s cool. So Joe’s good intentions don’t help Black Beauty; the horse still becomes extremely sick.
Themes
Black Beauty moans in pain when John appears at his stall. John covers Black Beauty with warm blankets and gives him some warm gruel, and for days he grouses that Joe is a “stupid boy.” By now, it’s been several days, and Black Beauty is seriously ill. Squire Gordon comes to visit often and says once that Black Beauty saved Mrs. Gordon’s life—had they been any slower in fetching the doctor, she would’ve died. The men of course don’t know that Black Beauty understands them, and that he knew full well what was at stake that night.
As a horse, Black Beauty can’t tell Joe what kind of care he needs. Instead, all he can do is wait for John to return and help him—and by then, Black Beauty is very sick. John may have thought he was doing a good thing by helping a boy like Joe Green get this job, but now, he’s forced to confront that helping Joe might mean the horses are at risk of being unwittingly neglected, simply because Joe doesn’t know how to properly care for the horses on his own.
Themes
