Final answer:
An author might use a harsh, dangerous, and cold setting to evoke a specific mood, intensify conflict, and symbolize the thematic elements of the narrative, enhancing the story's tension and character development.
Step-by-step explanation:
The most likely reason an author would use the setting of a harsh, dangerous, and cold environment in a story is to create a specific mood or atmosphere, to provide a backdrop against which the characters’ struggles and inner conflicts can be highlighted, and to symbolize the thematic elements of the narrative.
A cold and harsh setting can evoke feelings of isolation, survival, and challenge, thereby augmenting the story's tension and the characters' development. For example, in settings such as the Yukon in Jack London's tales, the environment itself becomes a formidable antagonist that the characters must contend with, thereby deepening the plot and the themes of human resilience and the force of nature.
Historical settings lend authenticity and depth to the narrative, as seen in Victor Hugo's Les Miserables, while symbolic settings, such as the cracked face of the house in Edgar Allan Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher, might represent the internal strife of characters. In both cases, setting transcends mere backdrop; it shapes the characters' decisions, highlights the narrative's conflict, and complements the overarching themes.