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Chapter 2
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
As the narrator grows, he becomes a handsome young horse. He’s black, with a white foot and a white star. His master won’t sell him until he’s four, as he believes that just as boys shouldn’t work like men, colts shouldn’t work like horses until they’re adults. When the narrator turns four, Squire Gordon comes to examine him and says that once the narrator has been “broken in,” he’ll purchase him. The master decides to break the narrator in himself. They begin the next day.
Again, it’s a sign of how compassionate the narrator’s master is that he wants to give the narrator a chance to grow up before he learns to work like an adult horse (four years old is when horses are considered adults). It’s also worth considering the implication that some young horses are forced to work like adults—but the narrator glossing over this implication suggests he’s not fully aware yet of how privileged he is.
Themes
Breaking in, the narrator explains, is the process of teaching a horse to wear a saddle and bridle and carry people on their backs. Horses also learn to wear a harness and draw a cart or chaise behind them. They learn to never startle, kick, or bite—or indeed, “have any will of his own.” Even if a horse is tired or hungry, he must obey his rider’s bidding. The narrator’s breaking in begins with being fitted for a bit and bridle. The bit is terrible—hard steel that goes in one’s mouth, over the tongue and held tight by straps over the head. But since the narrator knows Duchess always wears one, and since the master offers the narrator tasty oats, he gets used to it. The saddle comes next, and soon the master starts riding the narrator around.
That horses should carry people around and pull carriages may seem normal to readers—but the narrator makes it clear that this isn’t all fun and games for the horse. Indeed, being broken in essentially means that a horse learns to accept that it’s entirely powerless. However, the narrator’s master makes this as pleasant of an experience as possible by plying the narrator with treats. Undergoing this training makes the narrator into a useful animal who can provide much-needed transportation at a time when horses are the primary mode of transportation.
Themes
Literary Devices
It’s extremely unpleasant to be fitted with iron shoes. It doesn’t hurt, so the narrator stands quietly as the shoes are nailed in—but his feet feel heavy afterward. The master breaks the narrator to the harness next, which means having to learn to wear blinkers. Blinkers make it so horses can only see forward. The worst part of the driving training, though, is the crupper—having his tail poked through a strap that attaches to a small saddle makes the narrator want to kick. Soon, though, the narrator can perform work as well as Duchess. The most advantageous part of the narrator’s training, in retrospect, is that he spends a few weeks in a meadow with cows next to a railway. The train is terrifying at first—but soon, the narrator copies the cows and ignores it.
In describing the shoes, blinkers, and crupper, note that the narrator doesn’t seem to understand why he must wear these things; they’re just unavoidable annoyances. This highlights the narrator’s powerless: the reason for anything uncomfortable is never explained to him. However, the narrator nevertheless acknowledges that learning to wear and do all these things does end up being useful—he implies that these things are advantageous, just not the most advantageous parts of his training. Rather, he suggests the most useful part of his training is learning not to fear new things. This makes him a safe horse, as he’s less likely to jump in fear.
Themes
In the narrator’s opinion, what he experienced is the best way to break in a young horse. The master often takes the narrator and Duchess out in the double harness so she can teach him how to drive well. On these drives, Duchess shares that the narrator will be better treated the better he behaves—but she also warns him that not all men are created equal. Some men are kind, while others are cruel. There are other men who are ignorant, vain, and careless. It’s these men who spoil horses, just because they have no sense. Hopefully the narrator will end up in good hands, but horses have no control over where they end up. Still, the narrator should always do his best.
Duchess believes that while horses should do the best they can, they’re also powerless. They have no control over who their owners are, and whether those owners are kind and compassionate like their current master, or whether they’re cruel or ignorant. And interestingly, she suggests that it’s the careless and ignorant men who do the most damage, rather than the outright cruel ones. This becomes one of the novel’s main points, and it implies that for people who want to treat horses well, the best way to do that is to educate oneself on proper horse care.
Themes
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