Black Beauty

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. What purposes have horses served in human societies? What kinds of tasks have they performed?

Teaching Suggestion: As students brainstorm different functions horses have performed, prompt them to reflect on whether horses are still heavily involved in carrying out those tasks. If not, what have horses been replaced with? Encourage students to research when these transitions occurred. Students might also like to research a particular role for horses (for example, pit ponies in the coal industry) or a case study of a specific famous horse (Seabiscuit, Bucephalus, Secretariat, etc.).

• 7 Uses of Horses Throughout History & Their Domestication discusses how the role of horses in human civilization has evolved over history.  
• This Horse Breeds of the World packet from the International Museum of the Horse includes information about different breeds, key vocabulary, and a crossword and writing prompt. 

2. Black Beauty is set in Victorian England. What types of changes were occurring in English society at this time, and what challenges did people face?

Teaching Suggestion: Consider asking students to identify the different locations mentioned in the novel on a map (Bath, London, etc.) They could also identify locations where Anna Sewell lived. Students could brainstorm other authors whose work is set in Victorian England and predict themes or topics that they think might appear in Black Beauty.

• This National Geographic list of 15 Facts about the Victorians provides a good overview of some key social changes and challenges during this era. 
• This Introduction to Victorian England webpage published by English Heritage provides helpful information about the Victorian era and includes a number of subpages focused on aspects of culture and daily life.

Personal Connection Prompt

This prompt can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection homework before reading the novel.

When have you lacked power or control over your circumstances? How did you feel? When one individual has power over another, how should the individual with more power behave toward the individual with less power?

Teaching Suggestion: Sewell consistently depicts the vulnerability of animals and how they are under the control of humans. A discussion of power differentials can introduce questions of responsibility and vulnerability. Encourage students to explore whether holding a position of power encourages individuals to feel a heightened sense of responsibility and how accountability might function. Power and vulnerability are connected to the use of language; consider noting that animals occupy a heightened state of vulnerability because they lack language to advocate for themselves and that Sewell counters that imbalance in her novel by giving language to her animal characters.