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 30-32
Chapter 30 Summary
Krista explains Julie was saying “less,” not “Les.” Weems runs after Pete to stop him from confronting Les, but he doesn’t get there in time. Jason gives Weems a recap later. Pete burst into the shop and accused Les of molesting Julie. Pete took a swing, and then Les took Pete down, which Jason describes as “like watching someone take apart a drum kit” (183). Weems explains the mistake to Pete, but Pete’s too beat up to laugh.
Chapter 31 Summary
After the fight, Les and Elijah move back into the room with the others, and the earlier subgroups return. As a whole, they quietly feel hopeless about rescue, which allows them to hear the whine of “something giving up” above them (189).
Chapter 32 Summary
The group stays broken up. Jason, Pete, Julie, and Krista have colds. The snow slows down, but none of them get excited about it. Weems prays again. This time, it’s to the angel Gabriel, figuring most people wouldn’t be praying to the “less glamorous of the two archangels” (191). Prayer doesn’t help Weems sleep. Instead, he stays awake wondering if it’s “better to die in your sleep” (191).
Chapters 30-32 Analysis
Pete’s misunderstanding in Chapters 29 and 30 is another blow dealt by the storm. So far, the storm has focused most of its destructive power on the building. Now, it shifts to the kids. Julie gets lost as a result of the darkness (power being out), and her nervousness is caused by their circumstances and the storm’s threat. Indirectly, the storm is responsible for Pete misunderstanding what Julie says and for the fight between Les and Pete. Pete is the first to get physically injured because of the storm.
The storm also indirectly tears the group apart. After the fight, the kids divide into subgroups again. The fear and uncertainty caused by the storm make them seek out familiar or comforting people. The storm continues to push its advantage, baring down on the roof directly above their classroom. Among the kids, Julie’s cold (also a result of the storm) spreads to Krista, Pete, and Jason. In the midst of the threats getting worse, the snow slows again, as if the storm is now taunting the kids.
Weems’s character flaw of worrying gets the better of him in Chapter 32. Prayer doesn’t help, and Weems can’t sleep. The storm’s threat has escalated past a point where Weems feels like there’s hope. Weems stays awake all night worrying, which only weakens his body against the impending threat of sickness.
