How is Johnny changed over the course of the novel?

Johnny’s riding skills play an important role in the plot of this chapter. They allow him to escape the flogging and befriend Pumpkin, and they are also what leads him to be present for Pumpkin’s execution in Boston Common. More importantly, they also symbolize Johnny’s growing maturity. Even in the face of danger, he considers Goblin’s needs as much as his own, and this care and selflessness allows him to ride a horse that grown men would have trouble with.