A review by mistercrow
Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
3.0
Some pros/cons to this.
PROS:
I like that it teaches children to be compassionate and kind, not just to animals, but people too.
Keeping the book for the artwork.
CONS:
Overly religious, constant implication that only good people are those who go to church and believe in God. All bad people are atheists or not religious, and/or drinkers.
This book is heavily against drinkers, not just alcoholics, but anyone who drinks. Of course, this book was written in 1800s, so Anna Sewell didn't know that drinking on occasion is actually beneficial to your health.
I think it teaches children to 'know their place' too much. For example, in the beginning of the book, Ginger and Sir Oliver were speaking about their abuse ordeal and everyone had this attitude of "Well, we have good people now so let's not sound ungrateful!" (Literally... ??? How is pointing out that suffering from humans is being ungrateful!? It's like speaking about oppression and someone tells you that you're ungrateful to certain friends you may have that don't oppress you ?? ) Further on, Ginger and Black Beauty are met once more, and Ginger has such a defeatist attitude and that 'man have the strongest will', i.e. I use to kick about when I was abused but now I know my place.
On the other hand, it is so contradictory in that the humans will always step up and defend the horses whenever possible. So the object (animals) who are oppressed are not allowed to say anything but the oppressor is? Again, I don't want to teach any child that as it goes back to 'knowing my place' attitude and being silent on abuse.
3/5 stars, there is good intention here but the overly religious, 'know your place' bits are problematic. In particular, quiet women seldom make history and seeing as girls are the ones who will read about horses, I don't want them to think they should stick to their stereotypical gender roles of keeping quiet and knowing her place.
PROS:
I like that it teaches children to be compassionate and kind, not just to animals, but people too.
Keeping the book for the artwork.
CONS:
Overly religious, constant implication that only good people are those who go to church and believe in God. All bad people are atheists or not religious, and/or drinkers.
This book is heavily against drinkers, not just alcoholics, but anyone who drinks. Of course, this book was written in 1800s, so Anna Sewell didn't know that drinking on occasion is actually beneficial to your health.
I think it teaches children to 'know their place' too much. For example, in the beginning of the book, Ginger and Sir Oliver were speaking about their abuse ordeal and everyone had this attitude of "Well, we have good people now so let's not sound ungrateful!" (Literally... ??? How is pointing out that suffering from humans is being ungrateful!? It's like speaking about oppression and someone tells you that you're ungrateful to certain friends you may have that don't oppress you ?? ) Further on, Ginger and Black Beauty are met once more, and Ginger has such a defeatist attitude and that 'man have the strongest will', i.e. I use to kick about when I was abused but now I know my place.
On the other hand, it is so contradictory in that the humans will always step up and defend the horses whenever possible. So the object (animals) who are oppressed are not allowed to say anything but the oppressor is? Again, I don't want to teach any child that as it goes back to 'knowing my place' attitude and being silent on abuse.
3/5 stars, there is good intention here but the overly religious, 'know your place' bits are problematic. In particular, quiet women seldom make history and seeing as girls are the ones who will read about horses, I don't want them to think they should stick to their stereotypical gender roles of keeping quiet and knowing her place.