The Interaction between the Human and Animal Worlds
The following discussion attempts to examine the interaction that exists between the human and animal worlds as depicted in the stories Black Beauty and Charlotte's Web. Anna Sewell wrote Black Beauty, an animal autobiography, in 1877. This novel delves into the life of a horse known as "Black Beauty." Charlotte's Web is an E.B. White novel that was published in 1952. It tells the narrative of Wilbur, a pig, and his romance with Charlotte, a spider (Dann 3-5). The distinction between these two novels is that Charlotte Web includes both animal and human viewpoints to explain human-animal relationship while Black Beauty gives an animal perspective only on its narration.
Animals Existing among Humans in Charlotte's Web
In Charlotte's Web story, animals exist among humans in a world that is significantly dominated by human beings. For instance, we can see some animals such as pig, spider, rat, goose, sheep among others living among human beings such as John Arable, Fern, Avery, Zuckerman among others. On the other hand, the novel of Black and Beauty shows that animals can exist in a humanless world and that they are set in a real world thus they end up living in their appropriate habitats (Dann 6-14)
Communication Abilities of Animals in Charlotte's Web
Also, the novel of Black Beauty shows that animals are limited to have a conversation only with other animals from the same species. On the contrary, Charlotte's Web shows that animals can be able to talk to human beings and as well as to animals not necessary coming from the same species (Batinic 260-261). For instance, we can see that Charlotte (spider) writing a message to the farmer (Arable) trying to plead with him not to kill Wilbur (pig). This is a clear depiction that animals can communicate to human beings. Also, there is communication among different animals such as Wilbur talking to Charlotte to have plans for saving her life.
Knowledge of Animals about Human Beings
In the Black Beauty story, the knowledge of animals upon the living ways of human beings is limited to things they see and comprehend since they cannot talk to people. On the other hand, Charlotte's Web story shows that animals have a lot of knowledge about the ways in which human beings live simply because they can speak to people, observe events and anything and eventually make conclusions (Batinic 260-261).
Different Focuses in Black Beauty and Charlotte's Web
Black Beauty story completely advocates for a fair treatment of animals by the human beings and protests against all those people who treat animals as if they are objects of production activities. On contrary, Charlotte's Web story mainly focuses only on how human beings relate to animals in the day to day life, that is, the way they interact with one another (Ratell 327-341)
Similarities in the Human and Animal Relationship
Despite all the differences indicated in the above discussion, these two novels indicate a similarity on the way they present the human and animal relationship in that both humans and animals exist in the same world and human beings are the ones to control them. Moreover, the novels show that at a certain level, human beings have emotional effects when their animals suffer from either cruel treatment or diseases. For instance, in Charlotte's Web Story, Arable is pleaded by his daughter not to kill the piglet because she feels bad to be left without a pet. In Black Beauty, we have seen the horse being bought by a kind farmer who decides to treat her after it had collapsed as a result of being overworked by the cab driver.
Works Cited
Batinić, Ana. "Companionship of Children and Animals." Libri & Liberi 5.1 (2016): 260-261.
Dunn, Elizabeth A. "Talking Animals: A Literature Review of Anthropomorphism in Children's Books." (2015):6-14
Ratelle, Amy. "Ethics and Edibility in Charlotte's Web." The Lion and the Unicorn 38.3 (2014): 327-341.
