The Reef may be classified as a psychological novel. The writer's focus is not so much on what happens as on the states of mind of her two leading characters, Anna Leath and George Darrow.

In the first part of the novel, the center of consciousness is Darrow's; in the fourth part, it is Anna's. In the second and third parts, the center of consciousness shifts between Darrow and Anna. Thus we frequently get Darrow's and Anna's thoughts on what is going on around them. Wharton's method invites a certain amount of tedium as she engages in expositions of mental processes that are never as neat or orderly as her careful analyses suggest.

In the case of Anna, there is also the added difficulty that her thoughts constantly shift, so she does not seem to know her own mind. Thus at one point Anna thinks of Darrow as...