Rooted in the perspective of a local narrator who closely observes the action, the story resembles a piece of gossip interspersed with anecdotes, explanations, and commentaries. This narrative style gives the story an intimate feel that is in line with Harte’s interest in writing that purportedly provides an inside view into the Gold Rush mining camps. As a prominent example of writing from the American local color movement, “Tennessee’s Partner” illustrates the intricacies of life in such a camp. The first section of the story introduces exposition about the cultural values of Sandy Bar through the lens of frontier lawlessness. In Sandy Bar, inhabitants do not use their real names but acquire nicknames linked to whatever distinguishes them, whether “some distinctiveness of dress” or “peculiarity of habit” (Paragraph 1). Harte thus immediately separates Sandy Bar’s inhabitants from legal infrastructure like proper names and introduces a society where identity is in the process of being invented.

Still, Harte does not present Sandy Bar as entirely lawless. The story’s inciting incident occurs when Tennessee flagrantly robs a stranger on the way to the saloon.