Should everything in your story world be symbolic?
The facts of terrain, era and physics take no moral side, and physics must not, because a rule that bends for the good side at the climax picks the ending instead of a choice.
How to give your story world atmosphere and meaning
A story world is more than a setting. Its atmosphere, the manners people follow, the walls that keep them in and the way it punishes them can all come from the same place: the human failing your story argues against.
When your world is built that way, it gives your protagonist's false belief fresh evidence every day, it tells you where your climax should happen, and it lets your last scene show who won without a speech. Not everything has to carry meaning, though. The ground, the era and the laws of physics take no side.