According to Google books, the word or noun mountain shows 29 times. In plural it shows 43.Besides the fact that this term is the name for Tim Hamner’s observatory, I am speculating that it is not by accident that the authors refer to as the “mountain observatory.” As we know that the repetition of words in literature many times serves the purpose to highlight a particular idea. In Lucifer’s Hammer, the first reference appears on page 8, “Tim began telling her of his mountain observatory.” In the following pages there are several more references such as “freeze-dried mountain food”… “It gets cold in that mountain observatory.” For instance and to reinforce my suspicious for this noun, one of the major character in this novel Tim Hamner has a conversation with Mark(biker) a minor character: “Sometimes we keep mountains up there. I even have an observatory on one of them. But I guess Hertz-A-Mountain has taken them back today.” What I found interesting in this dialogue is that this character mentioned mountain twice.
I think that the reason why mountain or mountains appears so often in this novel is because of symbolism or foreshadowing intended as literary devices by the authors. The symbolic meaning of a mountain is huge under the context of this novel because of its major themes like survival or struggle to survive. Besides, a mountain is an explicit object or an image that can be used as a figurative language. In terms of foreshadowing, it could be that the author’s intention is to provide hints of who will survive.
I feel that the possibilities are endless once we start observing and analyzing this noun. It could be to set the novel’s tone or it could convey verbal irony. The novel itself is a very complex one that has so many themes and characters.
I also wonder if the prevalence of “mountain” follows the logic of the rest of the novel: that the cities are doomed while the mountains represent the best chances for survival. It’s another example of that back-to-nature survivalism that novel espouses.