Black Beauty

[conclusion in English is in the bottom of this post]

Sebuah buku yang menggedor pintu kesadaran kita semua akan perlakukan manusia terhadap sesama makhluk ciptaan Tuhan. Black Beauty adalah kisah tentang kehidupan seekor kuda, yang ia tuturkan sendiri dari sudut pandangnya. Kisah dimulai ketika Beauty masih seekor kuda muda (colt) yang masih menikmati indahnya menjadi kuda yang bebas merdeka di sebuah peternakan bersama ibunya. Beauty dididik dengan baik oleh sang ibu yang selalu menanamkan nilai-nilai kehidupan. Dari awal ibunya menekankan bahwa kehidupan kuda memang selalu tergantung pada manusia yang menjadi majikannya, kuda tak akan pernah merdeka. Mereka beruntung bila mendapatkan majikan yang memperhatikan kepentingan mereka dan memberikan kasih sayang kepada mereka, namun adakalanya nasib membawa mereka ke tangan pemilik yang kejam, dan memperlakukan kuda bak sebuah mesin. Kemanapun nasib membawa, sang ibu mengajarkan kepada Beauty, bahwa ia harus selalu berusaha sebaik mungkin.

Setelah itu Beauty berganti-ganti pemilik. Ada pemilik yang baik hati dan memahami kuda, ada pula majikan yang hanya suka memaksa kuda bekerja keras. Beauty pernah bekerja sebagai kuda penarik kereta bagi tuan/nyonya rumah, pernah pula menjadi kuda penarik cabs (kereta taxi). Kadang ia merasa bahagia, kadang pula sengsara. Semuanya ia lalui dengan selalu berusaha melakukan yang terbaik dan tak memberontak seperti ajaran ibunya.

Dan lewat penuturan Anna Sewell ini kita secara tak langsung diajak untuk lebih memahami tentang cara merawat dan menyayangi kuda, atau makhluk lain ciptaan Tuhan secara umum. Anda akan menemukan banyak pelajaran moral dari buku ini. Dan satu hal yang menarik, kuda—meski secara fisik nampak serupa satu sama lain—ternyata memiliki karakter yang berbeda karena masa lalunya pun berbeda. Sama seperti manusia!

Lima kereta untuk kisah yang menyentuh ini! J

Conclusion:

“We call them dumb animals, and so they are, for they cannot tell us how they feel, but they do not suffer less because they have no words.”

I always thought Black Beauty is a children book. Well, it is—perhaps, but I am grateful to read it as an adult, as I got so many deep philosophies throughout the book, which I might not have appreciated as a child. The main theme is how we should treat animals as God’s creatures, that animals—just as human being—can feel and need affection. Sewell gave several examples in this story, of people who ill-treated their horses, as if they were machines. In fact, not only that it’s not good for the horses, in the long run it was not good for the owner too. Over-working would only shortening horse’s productivity, and at the end the owner must sell it and buy a new horse after every short interval of time.

Sewell also criticized how people at that time (the 19^th century) used horses as fashion accessories. The use of bearing rein, for example; its purpose was merely to lift horses’ head to appear stouter when they were used on carriages. Victorian high class people liked to show off their stout horses, it’s the latest fashion. They never thought about the horses, how they must bear the tension and uncomfortable neck position for hours. If the horses could talk, here’s what they might say:

“You, who never had a bearing rein on, don't know what it is; but I can tell you it is dreadful. (...) I like to toss my head about, and hold it as high as any horse; but you can fancy how it would feel if you tossed your head up high and were obliged to hold it there for hours together, not able to move it at all, except with a jerk still higher; and all this time your neck was aging till you did not know how to bear it." ~p. 46

There are a lot of other examples of ill-using of horses in this book that made me want to slap all those absurd people who only thought about their appearances. But on the other hand, Sewell also gives many examples on how you should treat horses (or animals in general). Being the same creation of God, they too need to be loved, like us. From Black Beauty and his friends, I learn that they didn’t mind to work hard, as long as the owner took care of their needs and stands for them when they were in danger or being treated badly.

In the end, man and horse (which represent all animals) were all habitant of this earth. We can’t live alone; we need each other, so why don’t we work everything together, hand in hand? When man and horse can trust each other, they would be a strong partner in a harmony of life. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?

Five stars for Black Beauty, it’s indeed one of those touching readings!

Title: Black Beauty

Author: Anna Sewell

Publisher: Wordsworth Edition Limited

Published: 1993

Pages: 201

Jerry Barker on Black Beauty

Jeremiah ‘Jerry’ Barker

Black Beauty by Anna Sewell

“He was not a gentleman, nor yet one of the loud, flashy sorts that called themselves so. He was a rather small man, but well made, and quick in all his motions. I knew in a moment by the way he handled me that he was used to horses; he spoke gently, and his grey eye had a kindly, cheery look in it. It may seem strange—but it is true all the same—that the clean, fresh smell there was about him made me take to him. There was no smell of old beer and tobacco, which I hated, but a fresh smell as if he had come out of a hay loft.”

It was how Black Beauty first saw one of his favorite masters. His animal instinct did not betray him at Beauty’s first meeting with him, as Jerry Barker was indeed a brave and kind hearted man. Jerry was a London cab owner who drives his own carriages and takes care of his own horses. Jerry is a man who always follows his own principle. He didn’t do his job on Sundays because it is the day he dedicated for God and family, and that means he also give his horses time to relax and enjoy a little freedom—which every man and horses need.

Jerry always treat his horses as if they were human, not a machine, like most people treated them. He would bravely stand for horses’ cruelty, as reflected in his doctrine:

“My doctrine is this, that if we see cruelty or wrong that we have the power to stop, and yet do nothing, we make ourselves shares in the guilty.”

Actually I don’t fancy a perfect character, however I chose Jerry here because we can learn quite a lot from his manner. Jerry, for instance, does not like to speed up his cab just because some passengers were late by his own fault. However, when an emergency happened, and a poor woman needed to get as quickly as possible to her mother’s house, Jerry would be pleased to bring his cab at full speed just to give a help to someone need it. From this example, I feel that it’s not only money that Jerry is after for, like what he likes to sing,

“Do your best,

And leave the rest,

Twill all come right

Some day or night”

Jerry always does what he thinks right, and believes that at the end God will take care of him ‘when the time is right’. In this book, and I believe it happens in real life too, something good finally come to Jerry and the family (and Black Beauty too!). What a personage!

Black Beauty Visual Tour: A Classics Challenge June

The June prompt for A Classics Challenge is about Visual Tour. Here is the task:

Sometimes we come across a scene or description that creates such vivid imagery it moves us. Select a quote from the Classic you're currently reading and create a visual tour. 

And here are where my imagination has taken me to from the classic I just finished: Black Beauty by Anna Sewell. [click the image to enlarge]

"The first place that I can well remember, was a large pleasant meadow with a pond of clear water in it..." ~p. 23

"...Some trees overshadowed the pond, and rushes and water-lilies grew at the deep end..." ~p. 23

"At the top of the meadow was a plantation of fir trees; and at the bottom, a running brook overhung by a steep bank." ~ p. 23

"It was a great treat to us to be turned out into the Home Paddock or the old orchard; the grass was so cool and soft to our feet; the air was so sweet, and the freedom to do as we liked—to gallop, lie down, roll over on our backs, or nibble the sweet grass—was so pleasant. Then, as we stood together under the shade of the large chestnut tree, was a very good time of talking." ~p. 40

"I had been driven with a bearing rein by the dealer, and I hated it worse than anything else (...) You, who never had a bearing rein on, don't know what is is; but I can tell you it is dreadful. (...) I like to toss my head about, and hold it as high as any horse; but you can fancy how it would feel if you tossed your head up high and were obliged to hold it there for hours together, not able to move it at all, except with a jerk still higher; and all this time your neck was aging till you did not know how to bear it." ~p. 46

"Dinah's family lived in a small farmhouse up a green lane, close by a meadow with some fine shady trees; there were two cows feeding in it." ~p. 156

"The winter came in early with the great deal of cold and wet. (...) When it is a dry cold, a couple of good thick rugs will keep the warmth in us; but when it is a soaking rain, they soon get wet through and are no good." ~p. 157

horse cab in rain

Weekend Quote (3): Black Beauty

I have just finished Anna Sewell’s Black Beauty today, and would like to share some quotes that touched me quite deeply. All of these quotes are from Jerry Barker, a kind hearted man who became one of Black Beauty’s favorite masters.

“Do your best,

And leave the rest,

Twill all come right

Some day or night”

“’Do you know why this world is as bad as it is?’

‘No,’ said the other.

‘Then I’ll tell you. It is because people think only about their own business, and won’t trouble themselves to stand up for the oppressed, nor bring the wrong-doer to light.”

“My doctrine is this, that if we see cruelty or wrong that we have the power to stop, and yet do nothing, we make ourselves shares in the guilty.”

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