Thomas Wolfe The Great Smoky Mountains

The Great Smoky Mountains is where Thomas Wolfe’s play The Mountains takes place. Although Wolfe doesn’t delve deep into the environment of the mountains themselves one can feel the mountains surrounding the play itself. The Great Smoky Mountains is a place full of plant life and animals. Surrounding all this plant life and animals are the mountains themselves and the history they tell. The Great Smoky Mountains at its highest areas is roughly about 6000 feet above sea level (Hadley 1). These large peaks are thanks to a large mass of sedimentary rock from the late Precambrian age named by geologists as the Ocoee series (Hadley 1). This series of Ocoee rock is what makes up the eastern part of the Smoky Mountains. To go further, Hadley breaks …show more content…
In the spring weather is unpredictable and can change from a bright sunny sky to torrential rain in a matter of hours. Spring is also the time when snow can be seen at high altitudes while it’s a nice 65 degrees in the valleys (U.S.). Summer in the mountains calls for unrelenting heat and humidity. Temperatures can rise to the mid 90s in the valley but will rarely enter a temperature above 80 at the higher elevations. Fall sees a drop of temperatures across the board. Fall is the best time of year in the Smoky Mountains when the leaves change and temperatures hover around 70 until the early onset of winter (U.S.). When winter comes around temps can reach -20 at high altitudes but a high of 50 degrees can be seen in the valley. Just like the spring, winter seems to show the greatest variation in temperature. It is this variation in temperature along with the rainfall and plants that bring the Smoky Mountains its name. How exactly do the mountains themselves smoke? It is more of how the climate interacts with the mountains’ plant life that causes the …show more content…
Also, since the inception of The Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the park has become the largest protected bear habitat east of the Mississippi (U.S.). According to the national park service approximately 1500 black bears live in the park, 2 bears per square mile. While the American Black Bear is the most well known animal there are also 65 other mammal species, over 200 species of birds, and 50 native fish species (U.S.). Amazingly The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is also said to be the salamander capital of the world housing 30 species spanning five families (U.S.). . Of all the species in the Smoky Mountains a handful are on the threatened and endangered species list. It is up to the human race to protect the Smokey Mountains and all the life that lives