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 8-12
Chapter 8 Summary
The group debates whether the heat works with no power. They come up with a plan to use Pete’s flashlight app on his phone to find a thermostat and keep it cold so the heat will stay on. Their hopes disappear when Jason reminds them “the thermostats are electric” (58). Pete concludes they are “really and truly screwed” (58). Elijah and Les laugh at Pete’s observation, which freaks Weems out.
Chapter 9 Summary
The emergency lights kick on after a bit. Everyone goes to their lockers. Weems finds a pack of stale Oreos and hopes no one else heard the crinkle of the package because he “might need them for trading” (64). The group reconvenes, and Weems notices no one else has food visible. He concludes they all had the same thought about trading and that “this was when we started keeping secrets” (65).
They spend the rest of the night chatting and checking the snow until they fall asleep. They are all sure the storm will end and they’ll go home tomorrow. They are wrong.
Chapter 10 Summary
Weems wakes up to find the emergency lights have gone out, eight feet of snow outside, and more snow falling. He stares at the wall of snow for a while, finding it “bizarre and kind of overwhelming” (69).
He checks on the others and finds them all still asleep. He ends up staring at Krista and then notices that Elijah is watching him stare. Elijah makes a motion like plucking something off his head. Weems mirrors the motion and finds “the empty Oreos wrapper was stuck to my head” (71). He hides the wrapper just in time for Jason to wake up.
Chapter 11 Summary
Everyone else wakes up. Each kid guesses how much snow has fallen and tries holding their phones up to get service. They don’t yet know “the cell tower had been knocked out” (74).
Weems recognizes their more immediate problem when his stomach starts growling. They will “need food soon” (76).
Chapter 12 Summary
The group debates if and how they can get into the cafeteria for food. Most of them are on board with breaking into the shop to get tools to break into the cafeteria. Weems wants to hold out. He knows they’ll get into trouble for anything broken and doesn’t “want to get kicked off the team” (81). His argument wins the group over.
Chapters 8-12 Analysis
Pete’s observation in Chapter 8 foreshadows how the group’s situation will only get worse from this point. Twice in these chapters, Weems alludes to how the group is wrong about their situation improving, implying things will get much worse before they get better. Jason lives up to his assigned role of shop kid by pointing out that the thermostats are electric. Elijah’s laughter cements Weems’s assessment of creepy, and Les joining the laughter makes him seem sinister. So far, the kids fill the roles Weems assigned them.
Chapter 10 introduces the nor’easter’s next play as antagonist. Overnight, the snow nearly buries the first floor of the school, mirroring the fate of the truck in Chapter 7. With snow still falling, nature is winning the fight of man versus nature. As retrospective narrator, Weems reveals the cell towers are down. Northrop utilizes dramatic irony (where the reader knows something the characters don’t) to show how hopeless the situation is. The kids continue to check for cell service and try to send texts/make calls, not realizing their efforts will produce no results.
Chapter 12 shows the first instance of Weems arguing with a decision. The group will need food, and the only way to get it is to break into the cafeteria. Weems argues they should wait because they’ll get in trouble for destroying school property. His argument stems back to basketball and his need to preserve his place on the team. Weems manages to persuade the group to wait, but it turns out not to matter since the snow continues to fall for days.
