Sewell's Hurt

Hurt - written by Trent Rezner. Covered by Johnny Cash (February 26, 1932 - September 12, 2003)  
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When I read Black Beauty last year, the first thing I appreciated about the novel was the 1st person narrative from "the horse's mouth". But when I first read the novel, I didn't catch everything encompassed in Sewell's novel. First, I didn't know much about Sewell. Second, I never drew the analogy that perhaps, as some say, that she was (likely) drawing an analogy to slavery within the content of the novel. I also did not know Anna Sewell was crippled and was writing her novel during her last days while mostly confined to a house. Apparently, according to some literarians, there is also some controversy surrounding Black Beauty and its daring comparison to human slavery. According to Claudia D. Johnson's Understanding the Call of the Wild, 

London was not the first author to comment on human slavery and freedom through the means of an animals story. Anna Sewell, who had been a compassionate foe against slavery, wrote a horse story in 1877 called Black Beauty that had a similar narrative. Perhaps so her readers would be sure to get the point, the then president of the humane society, George Thorndike Angell, gave Sewell's story its subtitle of "The Uncle Tom's Cabin" of the Horse. [2]

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Nowadays, in spite of their impact, it seems there is some animosity about Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852) and Black Beauty (1877). But I don't see why this is. To criticize Sewell's novel as a lowly comparison of humans to animals is to deny the time frame in which the novel was written. Slavery wasn't exactly an issue to be tackled by women, nor was it a bad thing that Uncle Tom's Cabin has sold so many copies.

Given the historical context of the Victorian era, Unlce Tom's Cabin and Black Beauty, both are brilliant pieces of work, considering the elements they were confronting during the narrow-minded world view of the audience they were writing for. It wasn't as if Stowe or  Sewell could bring about any scientific argument about race; not that it bears on the ethics of slavery, but the mindset of the time wasn't exactly looking for many facts outside of religious dogma and Victorian values. 

In my comparison between the authors of two 'controversial' novels, it is important to note that Uncle Tom's Cabin was written before the Emancipation Proclamation (1862). So, Sewell's novel may be an attempt to provoke a conscious awakening about the ethical treatment of all beings, including horses. She was, in fact, from a family of abolitionists. Though the claim is also made that since she was crippled, she frequently used horse drawn carriages. Thus, she learned to sympathize with horses, and through her own pain was able to draw deep insight and articulate a compassionate story through writing about slaves in an animal story.  Or would it be fair to say sympathize with humans through horse characters? I think she may very well have been making many statements, or rather social commentaries, through her writings. 

For instance, Sewell's chapter Plain Speaking can be analyzed to mean or implicate many things. I argue Sewell was not speaking plainly. Rather, Sewell as implying the domination of man over nature, just as the men of the time were dominating slaves or so-called "freedmen". Though slaves were free at the time Black Beauty was published, they weren't free in today's sense of the word. Sewell writes, "There was no oppressed or ill-used creature that had not a friend in them, and their servants took the same tone. If any of the village children were known to treat any creature cruelly, they soon heard about it from the Hall."[4] 

In this quote, Sewell is sort of mocking the notion of freedom. During the time, the letter of the law was not quite the same as the spirit of the law. People were still of the mindset that blacks were very unequal. Thus, not the Hall nor the law would actually do anything to 'any' creature harmed. But they would hear about it.... Apathy at it's finest. 

In the same chapter, Sewell's prose depicts the sort of mindset which comprised the audience Sewell was writing for, "'Sawyer', he cried in a stern voice, '"is that pony mad of flesh and blood?"' The 'master' replies, "'Flesh and blood and temper,' he said. 'He's too fond of his own will, and that won't suit me."' [5]This is not the only parallel to the slave mentality of the Victorian era. It's only one that reflects Sewell's message about the oppression of man over nature, and man over man. 

Lastly, as long as this paragraph is for blogging purposes, I think it's good for the debate and controversy that lies within Black Beauty's underlying analogy to slavery. From Sewell's chapter Plainly Speaking, 

It might not do much harm on parade, except to worry and fatigue them, but how would it be in a bayonet charge against the enemy, when they want the free us of every muscle, and all their strength thrown forward? I would not give much for their chance of victory; and it is just the same with horses; you fret and worry their temper and decrease their power, you will not let them throw their weight against their work, and so they have to do too much with their joints and muscles, and of course it wears them up faster. You may depend upon it horses were intended to have their heads free, as free as men's are, and if we could act a litttle more according to common sense, and a good deal less according to fashion, we should find many things work easier; besides, you know well as I that if a horse makes a false step he has much less chance of recovering himself if his head and neck are fastened back. [6]

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The cruelty of taming horses and taming humans.

Here, I believe, Sewell is referring to the labor that made capitalism possible--slavery. She speaks of 'worry' and 'fatigue', drawing a parallel to the brutal practices of slavery and what humans endured from it. She writes, 'you may depend on horses'. This phrase refers to the dependence upon slave labor, who were 'intended to have their heads free' (as free as men's are). Now we can draw the analogy that Sewell is paralleling the freedom we took from individuals during slavery as well as the cruelty of the horse's 'master'. Further, she alludes to a kind of commodity fetish, referring to 'fashion'. As well as the sheer brutality involved with fastening horses heads and necks back and the yet another parallel she draws between the fastening of animals heads and the harsh realities involved with slaves' so-called middle passage, where they were transported and fastened using tight packing methods. Then, upon arrival, they were bridled, abused and beaten. They were people to be 'broken in'. 

Lastly, I opine that Sewell's novel was not an insult to slavery on the basis that she dared to compare animal suffering to human suffering. Given the time in which she wrote the novel, as well as the literary influences available to her, I believe she made a heart-felt effort to produce a novel that incorporated the views of the time while arguing against the inhuman ethical practices of the time to an audience that was  less than receptible to hear a brunt argument against slavery from a crippled, Victorian woman. 

We have a tendency to put the words we read in the context of present time without considering the dynamics of the time frame which reflect the history that has constructed our realities.When we read Black Beauty in the context of 1877, I think we're able to get a less offensive picture of the content within the text regarding the comparison to animals and slavery. And if we're objective, we're able to decipher our egocentric values of today's time, and understand the message behind Sewell's hurt. 

Anna Sewell

(30 March 1820 – 25 April 1878)

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[1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxU3gXy1Qq8

[2]Johnson, D. Claudia, Understanding the call of the wild (Greenwood Publishing Group, 2000), p 12

[3]http://www.rossettiarchive.org/img/thumbs_big/sa10.m.jpg

[4]http://www.moonrakerqh.com/tack/gfx/bridle-10-0137.jpg

[5]Sewell Anna, Black Beauty (Pavillion Books LTD: 1993), p 48

[6]Sewell, Anna, Black Beauty (Pavillion Books LTD: 1993), p 49

[7]Sewell, Anna, Black Beauty (Pavillion Books LTD: 1993), p 51

[8]http://www.gambiatouristsupport.com/slave12.gif

[9] http://img.tfd.com/authors/sewell.jpg