Animals have their own level of intelligence and understanding

Animals have their own level of intelligence and understanding, Michael Morpurgo argues in War Horse. While animals – specifically horses in this instance – may not have reason or the same level of intelligence and understanding as humans, they do have a certain level of intelligence and recognition. This is demonstrated primarily through Morpurgo choosing to narrate the novel from Joey’s perspective, rather than the perspective of a person.

Through the novel, Joey comes to instinctively understand things pretty quickly. For example, he recognizes immediately that he will have a friend for life in Albert, and that Father is to be avoided when Father is drunk. Joey later recognizes kindness in Captain Nicholls, Captain Stewart, Trooper Warren, the German Doctor, and Emilie and her grandfather. When Joey is trapped out in no-man’s land, he recognizes that the approaching...