在《北方的河》中，张承志为北方的河流赋予神性色彩，同样使与河流精神同频共振的主人公“他”展现出非凡而神性的人格。其辗转于五大河流探寻理想的过程展现了八十年代文化寻根意识，五大河流以不同的精神品格，共构父亲原型。对神性河流的崇拜与对父亲原型的探寻同样延展出张承志在写作当中的男性中心主义思想，男性叙事在《北方的河》当中也有所体现。

In The Rivers of the North, Zhang Chengzhi imbues the rivers of the north with divinity, and likewise enables the protagonist "he", who resonates with the spirit of the rivers, to reveal an extraordinary and divine personality. His journey through the five major rivers in search of an ideal reveals a sense of cultural rootedness in the 1980s, as the five major rivers share a fatherly archetype with their different spiritual characters. The worship of the divine rivers and the search for the father archetype also extend Zhang Chengzhi's masculocentric ideology in his writing, and the male narrative is also reflected in The Rivers of the North.