Setting in The Difference Engine (Blog Prompt #8)

As with all Steampunk literature, The Difference Engine takes place in London, in its darker corners. Once again, the theme is somewhat dark and gloomy. The world as we know it is completely different from what it really was at that point in time. The United States of America was divided into five countries, Texas having its own individual nation. The Ottoman empire still existed. Many things were different. It seems to be up to the reader to decipher the reasons why these things happened. However, the alternate reality is an essential part of Steampunk. With Charles Babbage’s Difference Engine having been invented, many things changed.
The story opens up in a darker area of London … a sort of red light district. This, of course, sets up a good deal of background for Sybil Gerard, at the time a prostitute. The portrayal of her environment contributes to her burning desire to escape to Paris at Dandy Mick’s suggestion. A dark setting is, of course, a common theme in all Steampunk. However, the atmosphere tends to be almost post-apocalyptic. This is not so in the novel The Difference Engine, for one reason or another. This is odd, especially considering how The Difference Engine is considered to be the quintessential Steampunk novel. However, one may consider the current (or then-current) state of affairs in the book, taking into account the divided United States and the broken state of affairs within Sybil Gerard’s life, to be, if nothing else, bordering on post-apocalyptic.