The first-person narrator allows the reader to empathize with a character she or he would probably fear in person. Muldrow is not a person easily approached, and his actions are extraordinary. The only way for a reader to appreciate Muldrow, rather than be simply terrorized by him, is to feel the workings of his mind, share his memories, and absorb his awareness of the natural world.

Another technique which adds to the richness of the novel stems from Dickey's skill as a poet. Passages of To the White Sea are lyrical. The prose is poetic in its imagery and energy, as in this example, one of many when Muldrow describes light: "The sun on top of water is one thing, but sun in it — down somewhere under the surface where it makes a kind of a box shape, you could say, a box that changes, that goes...