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Chapter 41
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
When Jerry and Black Beauty get home one afternoon, Polly rushes up and says a man wants to hire Jerry’s cab ahead of the election (put posters on it) and wants to know what Jerry’s vote will be. Jerry says he won’t work for the man; he has no interest in driving drunk voters, and he won’t vote for the man anyway. On the morning before the election, Dolly and Harry enter the yard. Dolly is sobbing and dirty—boys threw dirt on her and called her a “little blue ragamuffin.” Harry says he defended his sister against the “orange blackguards.” After sending Dolly inside, Jerry tells Harry to stand up for Dolly—but he won’t tolerate political talk in his house. Most people, he says, don’t even know what politics is for. Elections are serious things, not excuses to shout and abuse people who don’t vote the same.
This chapter may be a bit confusing to modern readers unfamiliar with Victorian election practices, but the gist of it is that Jerry applies the same kind of thinking to politics as he does to other aspects of his life. Just as he sees Sundays as a solemn day of rest, he believes voting is something serious that should allow a person to express their deeply held beliefs—ones that, ideally, support people who need extra help. The orange and blue that Dolly and Harry mention are the colors of the political parties; they’re essentially engaging in political fights. “Blackguarding,” meanwhile, refers to taunting the opposition—which is why Jerry insists that elections aren’t about making up an excuse to torment others.
Themes
