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介紹:
Black Beauty (in full: Black Beauty: The Autobiography of a Horse, first published November 24, 1877) is Anna Sewell's only novel, composed in the last years of her life between 1871 and 1877 while confined to her house as an invalid.
重要情節
The story is told in the first person (or "first horse") as an autobiographical memoir told by a highbred horse named Black Beauty—beginning with his carefree days as a foal on an English farm, to his difficult life pulling cabs in London, to his happy retirement in the country. Along the way, he meets with many hardships and recounts many tales of cruelty and kindness. Each short chapter recounts an incident in Black Beauty's life containing a lesson or moral typically related to the kindness, sympathy, and understanding treatment of horses, with Sewell's detailed observations and extensive descriptions of horse behaviour lending the novel a good deal of verisimilitude.
圖片參考:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f0/Black_Beauty_1st_ed.jpg
Characters
Horses:
Black Beauty/Black Auster/Jack/Darkie—The narrator of the story who earned his name from his dark coat. He always tries his best to serve humans despite the circumstance.
Duchess/Pet—Beauty's mother, who encourages Beauty to be good from a young age.
Rob Roy—A fellow black horse from Beauty's original farm. It is later alluded that he was Beauty's at least half-brother.
Ginger—Named so because she "snaps", Ginger is a more aggressive horse due to her traumatic upbringing.
Merrylegs—A short, handsome pony who is polite to humans and horses alike.
Sir Oliver—A horse who had his tail removed for fashion purposes to his great annoyance and discomfort.
Peggy—A cab horse who cannot run so fast due to her short legs.
Captain—A former army horse who encountered horrific treatment and incidents whilst being used for battle.
Justice—A calm, peaceable horse Beauty meets at Birtwick Park.
Beauty's owners
Farmer Grey—Beauty's first owner.
Squire Gordon—owner of Birtwick Park, a fine rider, and boss of John, James, and Joe.
John Manly—A coachman who treats his horses with care and respect.
James Howard—John's stable boy.
Joe Green—John's younger and less experienced stable boy.
Earl of W-—An unnamed Lord who uses Beauty as a carriage horse.
Reuben Smith—A handsome and charming young man whose downfall is caused by his alcoholism.
Mr. Barry—A man who tries to treat horses well, but lacks knowledge on horse care.
Filcher—Barry's horse groom who steals food from the stable (Note: the verb 'to filch' means 'to steal').
Jerry—A kind owner who uses Beauty as a cab horse. AKA Jeremiah Barker. Also owner of Captain and Hotspur.
Jakes—An owner who uses Beauty as a work horse, forcing him to carry heavy loads.
Nicholas Skinner—A ruthless cab horse owner who wears out horses through hard work and mistreatment.
Farmer Thoroughgood—A kind owner who cares for Beauty when he is at his weakest.