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Genre 

Coming-of-age novel; young adult novel; Native American fiction

Point of view 

This novel is narrated in the third-person omniscient voice.

Tone 

Young, angry, tragic, desperate

Tense 

Past

Setting (time) 

Approximately 1910 onward

Setting (place) 

Piedra Town; Arboles; Horse Mountain; Pagosa; Bayfield; Aztec; Bernalillo; Carrizozo; Socorro; Eastern New Mexico; Oklahoma; Colorado; El Paso; Fort Stockton; Sonora; Fredericksburg; Uvalde Country; Odessa; Wolf Point; New York

Protagonist 

Thomas Black Bull

Major conflict 

Tom attempts to come to terms with his Ute heritage and to define his role in society.

Rising action 

Tom's abandonment of his life in the wilderness; Tom's visit to Bayfield, during which he meets Red, who will instruct him in bronco riding

Climax 

Tom dreams of the All-Mother, and she speaks to him, claiming him as her son.

Falling action 

Tom resumes his life in the traditional Ute way.

Foreshadowing 

Meo's prediction in Chapter 24 that Red's gambling and drinking behavior will result in his eventual death; Jim Woodward's warning to Tom about what to do if a bear should make trouble on the range.

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