Coming of Age

A bildungsroman is a story in which the protagonist grows and time passes. Farley's novel is not an extended bildungsroman in that it only covers about seven months in total, but that time witnesses Alec grow from being a young schoolboy to a world traveler and champion jockey. Alec travels to India to spend time with his Uncle where he hikes through jungles and rides horses over vast areas.

After that, he boards a large ship that capsizes and leaves him stranded on a puny island. Finally, he returns to his family in New York, but does not stop to rest. He trains his horse, the Black, into a champion and, along the way, he becomes a world class jockey. Despite the novel's condensed time arc, Alec matures emotionally and changes physically.

Throughout the story, Alec adapts to each new obstacle and overcomes them...