An Analysis of the Writing Techniques in Black Beauty

Abstract

Since Anna Sewell’s Black Beauty was firstly published in 1877, it has been regarded as a classic for children’s literature. The novel’s protagonist, Black Beauty, is a beautiful and excellent dark horse. He grew up in an aristocratic family and was well-trained. He was docile, kind, clever and witty, but because his master’s family met some misfortunes, Black Beauty had to experience a series of sufferings and tested all the joys and sorrows of life. Although this novel is about animals, it has important implications for humans from the perspective of animals and teaches people how to treat each other respectfully and kindly. The analyses of the novel by the predecessors mostly focus on the ecological criticism. This paper then focuses on the unique writing techniques in Black Beauty.

 This paper consists of the following four parts. First of all, it explores the novel’s unique narrative techniques, including narrative perspectives and writing backgrounds. Second, it analyzes the novel’s literary writing techniques, including allusion and personification. Then, this article focuses on the analysis of the symbolism used in this novel, such as the symbolism of the names and rein. Finally, this paper further sublimates and sums up the themes of this novel on the basis of the preceding. 

Through the analysis of the writing techniques in Black Beauty, this paper expects to provide a new understanding of this novel, so that more people have a deeper understanding of this type of animal novels, and play a certain reference role for the later scholars when they are analyzing the writing techniques of this kind of novels.

Key words: Black Beauty; writing techniques; symbolism; narrative techniques