The Inland Whale is described as a work of comparative literature. Goldschmidt writes that Kroeber's work is in a long tradition of retellings of folk narratives, such as those by Hans Christian Andersen, the Brothers Grimm, and Joel Chandler Harris, which Kroeber extends by examining an oral tradition. French notes that Indigenous American stories were frequently neglected by scholars, as they were transmitted orally; Kroeber sought in her book to demonstrate their merit as literature. Kroeber examines the "literary implications" of the stories in her commentary at the end of the book. The stories resemble distinct forms of written literature: Waugh therefore argues that the stories demonstrated "genre variations" in oral traditions. Charles S. Bryant, reviewing a 1965 reprint, commented that the book's greatest value may lie in communicating the value of oral traditions to a lay audience. Scholar Donald C. Cutter wrote that the book showcased the wide cultural variation within the Californian indigenous people, and therein had a valuable lesson for historians who saw them as a monolithic people.
