To the White Sea follows a long tradition of quest literature, beginning with Greek classics like the Iliad and Odyssey (c.1050-850 B.C.) and continuing to the present day in works as dissimilar as Joyce's Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916) or Margaret Atwood's Surfacing (1972). The quest motif is common and its basis is simple: The hero searches for something and must overcome obstacles to attain his or her goal.

In Muldrow's case, his quest is not only to survive (which would be the typical response of an ordinary person) but to march through enemy territory to a safe place. His quest is to find cold weather, which for him represents a benign environment and a return to his boyhood.

Cormac McCarthy's All The Pretty Horses (1992) offers an interesting juxtaposition to this novel. Both feature protagonists whose quests are fraught with violence.