Anna Sewell’s Black Beauty as Slave Narrative
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Abstract
Black Beauty (1877) is an autobiography from the point of view of an
ostensible horse. Though Anna Sewell herself said that her work was for improving
the treatment of horses, the novel has many similarities to the slave narratives. The
living conditions and standards of the characters of Black Beauty are similar to that
of the slaves.
The relationship between animal autobiography and the slave narrative has
only recently been recognized. Critics like Moria Ferguson and Tess Cosslett have
sketched several commonalities between the animal autobiography and the slave
narrative. This research investigates that relationship further. In short, this research
confirms Black Beauty's rhetorical, formal, thematic, and social power within the
genre of the American slave narrative.