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Chapter 37
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
Winter comes early this year with weeks on end of snow, sleet, rain, and wind. Dry cold is easy enough to deal with, as drivers put warm blankets on their standing horses. But the blankets get soaked instantly in wet weather. Some men have waterproof covers for their horses or for themselves. But the worst thing is that while horses only work half days, the men work full days without shelter. The worst for the horses are the slick streets, as it takes extra energy to try not to slip. Many men drink in taverns while they wait for passengers, but not Jerry. He occasionally visits a coffeeshop, and Dolly regularly brings him hot meals when he’s waiting on the stand.
Black Beauty’s description of working in winter suggests cab work this time of year is brutal. It requires the men and the horses to sacrifice their comfort and potentially their health just so they can earn a bit of money. But Black Beauty also implies that while it’s exhausting, difficult work, it still needs to be done—he and the other horses pulling cabs keep Victorian England moving, and people don’t stop moving because it’s cold and rainy. Staying home isn’t an option.
Themes
One day, as Jerry is eating his soup and chatting with Dolly, a gentleman approaches quickly and hails Jerry. Jerry starts to give his soup back to Dolly, but the gentleman says he can wait until Jerry is done. Jerry tells Dolly the man is a “real gentleman.” After this, Jerry often drives the gentleman, who seems to be a real animal lover. He’s one of the only people who even acknowledges the horse pulling the cab.
The gentleman puts his comfort aside so that Jerry can eat, something the novel suggests makes this gentleman particularly good and virtuous. This characterization becomes even more obvious when the gentleman acknowledges Black Beauty. The fact that most people don’t acknowledge cab horses suggests that to many people, horses are like steam trains: they’re machines that go, not animals with thoughts and feelings of their own.
Themes
One day, when the gentleman and one of his friends take Jerry’s cab, they stop so the friend can run an errand. Jerry and the gentleman watch a carter leave his horses unattended—and the horses walk off. The carter returns when they’ve only gone a few steps, and he beats the horses’ heads with a whip and reins. The gentleman threatens to take the carter to court and takes down the name and address on the cart as it moves away. When his friend returns, the friend teases the gentleman for getting involved in other people’s business. But the gentleman says the world is so bad because people think only of themselves and never stand up for people or animals who are being abused and oppressed. He says a person is guilty if they see cruelty or evil happening and don’t try to stop it.
The gentleman continues to distinguish himself as a virtuous, kind person. And though there’s no implication that this gentleman is at all connected to John Manly, he echoes almost word for word John’s earlier insistence that it's selfish for people to only look out for number one. Similarly, he believes that it’s essential to advocate for those who are powerless, such as the carter’s horses who perhaps didn’t know they were supposed to stay standing until told otherwise. This also further justifies Jerry’s choice to, for instance, drive Dinah into the country: he was helping out someone with much less than he has.
Themes
