64 pages • 2 hours read
Michael NorthropTrapped
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2011A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapters 17-20
Chapter 17 Summary
After leaving the cafeteria, Weems and Krista run into Les, Pete, and Julie. The three got the radio from the office but are in the middle of a confrontation. Krista manages to keep Les from pummeling Pete, and Weems observes you “can’t underestimate the power of a pretty girl’s voice on a teenage boy” (109). The group breaks into the nurse’s office to get supplies—blankets, medicines, and other things.
Chapter 18 Summary
Later, the group huddles around the radio. They hear a recorded emergency alert message, and after some fiddling, they find a station with a live person broadcasting. They learn over 11 inches of snow have fallen with no end in sight and emergency response personnel remain swamped. Weems concludes they are “on our own for the duration” (119). No one was coming for them, and even if someone did, there was nowhere for them to retreat to. After eating, the group settles down for the night. Weems can’t sleep and decides to pray, even though he hasn’t done so since he was little. Jason joins him, and together they pray “for clear skies” (123).
Chapter 19 Summary
Weems wakes up the next morning to a sharp cold, which means the rest of the building’s heat “had drained away overnight” (124). Weems runs into Les on his way to the bathroom, who tells him Elijah said they were “going to die in here” (126). This freaks Weems out, but he refuses to believe it’s true.
Later, Weems goes to the bathroom again, but when he turns on the sink, nothing happens. The pipes have frozen. Though it’s potentially dangerous, the group needs to build a fire to melt snow for water and to keep warm. Weems is initially against the idea but comes around quickly.
Chapter 20 Summary
Weems goes to the shop to collect supplies and tell Jason the plan for a fire. Jason is in the process of turning Flammenwerfer into a snowmobile. Weems relays what Elijah said about them all dying. Jason thinks nothing of Elijah’s words, which makes Weems feel better, “the way he just blew it off like that” (139).
Chapters 17-20 Analysis
Despite his progress in the previous chapter, Weems backslides into categorizing in Chapter 17. He’s amazed at Krista’s effect on Les and resumes thinking of Krista as just attractive. Les also upholds his role as a bully in this chapter, taking out his anger and frustration on Julie and Pete (the characters who blend in and are easy prey). In Chapter 18, Weems does make progress toward shifting his image of himself. He’s surprised that he feels like praying and acknowledges that the storm is changing him. When the group decides to build a fire, Weems initially objects, still afraid of what their destruction will do to his spot on the basketball team. With the temperature dropping and the pipes frozen, Weems’s protests don’t last as long as they did about breaking into the cafeteria. The storm also changes what Weems’s deems important. If he doesn’t survive, basketball won’t matter.
The storm strikes again in these chapters. They feel the result of the power outage with the drop in temperature and freezing of the pipes. The kids no longer have easy access to heat or water and must act against the antagonist’s threat to ensure their survival. Again, Jason’s categorization as shop kid comes into play. He has the materials and knowledge to build a safe fire and leads the group in doing so.
Elijah’s prediction that the kids will die in the building scares Weems, who responds by thinking only someone as weird as Elijah would say such a thing. When Jason shrugs off Elijah’s prediction, Weems feels better. The weird kid’s words freaked out Weems, and the reaction of the shop/military kid calms Weems down. Weems’s categories affect his emotions. Weems is also impressed and hopeful about Jason turning Flammenwerfer into a snowmobile. Again, Jason’s shop kid qualities have a positive effect on Weems.
