Where It All Goes Down
1910 Arctic Alaska
Brrr… this novel makes us want to reach for a blanket and a warm cup of cocoa. Right from the beginning, we're told about the frigid landscape:
[…] patches of frost and ice still clung to his beard and eyebrows despite the warmth of the cabin. It was only a matter of degree. Outside the temperature was plunging as night came on, already twenty below, maybe more. (1.3)
Shmoopsters—this place is cold, like ice-on-your-beard-even-though-you're-inside cold. The thing about this frigid setting, though, is that is helps create the sparse and mysterious feeling in the book. Think about what would happen if the book were set in New York City instead of the arctic. Not only wouldn't people freeze to death while outside for a couple minutes (we hope), but it also wouldn't be half as mysterious and lonesome with a bunch of skyscrapers and tourists around.
Part of why the book is creepy is because there is no one around, no one to help Sig and Anna when things make a turn for the worst. The cold and bare setting helps create this isolated atmosphere—and since it's 1910 and phone lines aren't crisscrossing the world yet, the setting is just that much further from other people and the help they might be able to offer.