These discussions are never complex rather, Sewell keeps them simple, often making it clear what she thinks the good position is in these cases. Sewell’s characters and stories raise issues like labor rights, political ethics and religious philosophy. While the expressed purpose of the novel is to teach against cruelty towards horses, it also is meant to teach about other moral issues. This anthropomorphic trait puts the reader directly in a horse’s horse-shoes and forces them to look at the world through the eyes of an often mistreated workhorse. To that end she has a horse-Black Beauty-narrate the story. Instead she stated that she intended for this book to encourage readers to deal with horses sympathetically and to understand their needs and wants. To this day it remains a popular children’s book and is the foundation for pony literature.Īlthough many regard it as a novel clearly intended for children, Sewell did not explicitly limit her book to a children audience. Black Beauty was one of the bestselling English works of her time and indeed of all time. She completed the book only a few months before her death, though she lived to see it become an immediate success. She dedicated this book to her mother for the sympathy and kindness her mother expressed and taught her daughter to express.

She did not marry instead, she chose to remain with her mother-a woman Sewell had great affection and respect for-and the two took care of each other. Since she could not stand for long periods of time, she learned how to ride and drive horses and loved to take every opportunity to do just that.

Sewell, who grew up in Quaker family of north England, was an invalid for most of her life.

Black Beauty by Anna Sewell