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Told from the perspective of a horse, Black Beauty illustrates the many ways horses were mistreated in nineteenth century England.
Handsome and well-bred, Black Beauty's first position is pulling a carriage at a fancy estate. This means having to wear a bearing rein, a fashionable contraption that holds the horses’ heads up so unnaturally high that many horses are only good for a few years of work before their backs give out. Black Beauty is ultimately ruined by a drunk driver, which condemns Beauty to forms of work farther and farther below his breeding.
Black Beauty, a mild and humble narrator, quietly condemns all forms of animal cruelty in his elegant recounting of his adventures. But this story is also a lesson in the simple value of kindness, for Black Beauty’s journey ends in peace.
Guided Reading Level: L
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