WARM WISHES

Thanks to Allah SWT because giving me the strength to complete this assignment on writing a personal response based on what I have read. I would like to take this opportunity to say a lot of thank you to my lecturer Tuan Haji Rosli bin Muhammad for the guidences given. I also want to say thank you to my family for their supportive and understanding while I am completing this task. Last but not least , I give this thank you to my friends who always help me whenever I need......

Salawati/book review/black beauty

Salawati/book review/black beauty

BLACK BEAUTY by ANNA SEWELL Sewell, Anna, 1820 1878 Publisher : Dean Year : 1900

Black Beauty by Anna Sewell

Personal response is personal, its in our own words, and explains how we feel about things / opposite of critical response. The personal response allows us to show how we experiences colour the meaning we bring to, and take away from what we have read. We all bring different experiences, ideas, and knowledge to the texts we have read and to the media we encounter and use.

Most of us like to read a book, so do I. The book that I have read is entittled Black Beauty which is first published in 1877, is a realistic animal story that focuses on the animal itself, not on a childs interaction with an animal like so many other animal tales. This book is also unique because the presentation of the story is using a horse as the first-person narrator or in other words, as if the horse wrote the story. The original title page for the novel read: Black Beauty is The Autobiography of a Horse, translated from the original equine, by Anna Sewell. The genre of animal autobiography had been seen in a limited fashion before, but Black Beauty is considered the first novel of this type. The style of presenting an animal as an animal rather than giving it human traits has been followed by similar stories such as Beautiful Joe, The Incredible Journey, and Bambi. Further, Sewells novel has been an influence on animal stories of all kinds, including those of popular modern writers such as Beatrix Potter and Kenneth Grahame. Sewells intention in writing the book was to promote the humane treatment of horses. Called the Uncle Toms Cabin of the Horse, Black Beauty is credited with having the greatest effect on the treatment of animals of any publication in history.
Salawati/book review/black beauty 3

The book resulted in legislation protecting horses and a changed public attitude about animal pain and the traditional and fashionable practices that caused suffering for horses.

Black Beauty was the only book that Sewell wrote, and she sold the manuscript for only twenty pounds. It is still one of the most widely read books in the world, with numerous translations and multiple media versions. Barely a year goes by without a new print edition being published, thus continuing the life of this timeless classic.

The book is an autobiography from the point of view of the titular horse, named Black Beauty. The first part of the book deals with Beauty's birth in a meadow, his time spent as a foal with his mother and the advice she gives him to behave well to be treated well. Then he is sold to the Squire Gordon who is a horse lover and cares very well for his animals. Here he meets the grooms John Manly and James Howard who are loving, neat and efficient. Beauty spends the better part of three years here and makes friends with the other horses: Ginger, Merrylegs and Sir Oliver. This idyllic life ends with the beginning of the second part where Beauty is sold, along with Ginger to Earlshall Park. The life is harder there and the painful bearing rein is used on the horses. A riding accident causes his knees to be ruined and he is sold as a job horse to a new master who cannot take the trouble of rearing a horse and sells him again. Next, Beauty is sold to a hardworking cab driver called Jerry. While running in the streets he meets his friend Ginger who is miserable due to the harsh treatment meted out to her and subsequently he watches her corpse being carted away a few months later. Jerry falls ill and Beauty is sold again. The horse then passes from one master to another, most of them has overwork and mistreat him till at last he is sold to the Blomefield family for whom his old groom Joe Green is working. Green recognizes Beauty and he lives out his last days in peace and happiness. This book was written at the end of the 19th century by Anna Sewell, a lady who was crippled from her teenage. As a result she had a great interaction with horses and understood them well. This book was the first of it's kind, written from the
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point of view of an animal and hence it captured the imagination of the public in a very novel way. It went a long way in ensuring better treatment of horses, hitherto seen as mere beasts of utility and paved the way for humane treatment of all animals. The book is written in the first person from the perspective of a horse. The language is extremely simple and the point of view is very consistent for its time. The book moves at a relaxing pace and is extremely absorbing without being dull or loose. Plot points are tight and the other characters, whether human or horses, are complex and completely fleshed out thus adding to the well crafted feel of the book. True to style, the human characters are explored more distantly than the other horses, as befits the perspective of a horse. I was 19 when I first read this book and since then it has always remained my favourite. While actively promoting animal welfare, the book also deals with the timeless human values of companionship and compassion. Also, most unusually for its time, the book explores the philosophy of wrongdoing through ignorance and its cure through knowledge as exhibited by the groom Little Joe. It paved the way for other animal based classics such as those by Jack London and Rudyard Kipling. A treat for readers of all ages. I do think it is an amazing story for everyone. There are versions that leave out some of the crueler points in the story if you want to read it to a child without having to worry about it.

Salawati/book review/black beauty