名著《黑骏马》英语读后感

名著《黑骏马》英语读后感

“

Animals

deserve

our

kindness,

sympathy

and

understanding,

”

that is what Anna Sewell-the author

of

Black

Beauty-wanted

to

convince

her

readers.

Thanks

to

Sewell,

I

now

think

about

the

animal-human

relationship

from

both

the

human

and

the

animal

’

s

point

of view.

The

inspiration

for

Anna

Sewell

’

s

novel

was

drawn

from

her

own

relationship

with

horses.

Anna

Sewell

was

born on March 20th, 1820 in Norfolk, England and was

crippled

while

still

very

young.

Due

to

her

disability,

she relied on horse-drawn carriages and grew to love

horses as a result. She also became appalled by the

careless

and

cruel

treatment

horses

often

received

from

humans and determined to write a book.. In the second

year

of

work

on

the

book,

she

was

told

that

she

had

only

eighteen months to live, but she persevered in order

“

to induce kindness, sympathy and an understanding

treatment

of

horses.

”

Five

years

later,

she

was

still

working

on

Black

Beauty,

her

only

book.

Unfortunately,

Sewell died a few months after publication and never

learned

of

the

book

’

s

huge

success.

Black

Beauty

formed

an impassioned plea for animal rights at a time when

such a notion had been dismissed as ridiculous.

The novel portrayed the real condition of working

horses living in Britain during the Victorian Era. In

that

time

period,

the

wealthy

thought

that

their

horses

were treated well because they never stepped into the

stable.

In

order

to

call

people

’

s

attention

to

horses

’

hard

life,

Sewell

tells

the

story

through

the

first-person

narrative

voice

of

a

horse.

This

innovative personification of an animal made the book

a

real

success.

Readers

heard

the

stories

straight

from

the horse

’

s mouth, literally, as an animal spoke of

extremes of joy and suffering. People were shocked by

the

truth

exposed

by

the

novel

and

changed

their

attitudes towards animals.

Sewell

formed

the

novel

with

three

kinds

of

characters:

Black

Beauty,

Ginger

and

other

farm

animals.

Through their different experiences, I saw similarly

painful lives led by the animals. This method made the

earnest appeal for animal rights become more and more

persuasive.

As

a

domestic

animal,

Black

Beauty

was

continuously

sold from one family to another. Over the years Beauty

enjoyed

good

masters

but

also

endured

mean

ones.

Sometimes,

he

was

cared

for

and

at

other

times

tortured.

In the end, everything turns out all right in a story

that is so tender and yet meaningful. His story was so

vivid

that

caught

the

readers

’

heart.

The

novel

brought

people

laughter

and

tears

and

also

enlightened

them

to

understand animals at the same time.

Animals

cannot

speak

so

understanding

is

significant

to

them.

Once,

for

example,

Beauty

was

drawing

the

carriage

to

a

wooden

bridge.

The

bridge

was

flooded out in the river and John, the groom, was not

aware

that

it

was

cracked.

But

the

quickly

realized

that

something

was

wrong

because

of

Beauty

’

s

abnormal

behavior. Momentarily, a man shouted to them,

“

Stop!

Stop!

?

The bridge is broken in the middle. If you come

across, you

’

ll fall in the river!

”

Beauty had saved

John.

However,

if

John

had

not

tried

to

understand

what

Beauty

wanted

to

tell

him,

there

would

definitely

have

been

an

accident.

I

learnt

from

the

story

that

understanding

animals

is

not

only

essential

to

them

but

is also beneficial to us ourselves.