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.
Symbols & Motifs
The Nor’easter
Trapped centers around the consequences of a nor’easter on the seven students trapped at Tattawa Regional High school. As Weems describes in Chapter 1, New Englanders are familiar with nor’easters and the several feet of snow they can drop at a time. Weems points out that this particular storm is like nothing New England has ever seen. Nor’easters are like snow hurricanes. The storm in Trapped stalled partly over the ocean and partly over land. This allows it to continuously pick up steam from the water and keep up a steady snowfall. The nor’easter serves as both the setting and antagonist of the novel.
The impact of the storm on Tattawa Regional High School and its students increases in severity throughout the book. At the beginning, Weems and his friends don’t take the storm seriously. They’ve lived in New England their entire lives and think they know what to expect. Once they realize they’re stuck in the school overnight, they are sure the snow will slow and that they’ll have rides home in the morning. When the snow level is almost higher than the first floor of the school by morning, the trapped students realize this storm is different from past ones. The nor’easter becomes a threat at this point, but the kids aren’t aware of it just yet.
Over the next several hours, the seven watch as the snow lightens and then gets worse again. The power goes out, and the temperature in the building steadily drops. Like an antagonist character, the storm drives a wedge between the group. Tensions over their worsening situation cause the seven to break into subgroups, keep secrets, and look out for themselves. As it becomes clear no one is coming for them, the seven fight back against the antagonistic weather. They form bonds and work together toward the benefit of all, building a fire and taking turns to retrieve supplies from the cold, dark cafeteria.
Later in the book, part of the school’s ceiling collapses, bringing snow inside. The antagonist storm invades the group’s sanctuary. With their foe closing in, Pete decides to go for help, only to be defeated by the storm. From beginning to end, the nor’easter is personified as an increasingly dangerous villain.
Flammenwerfer
Flammenwerfer (German for “flamethrower) is Jason’s go-cart shop project. Naming his project after a weapon reflects Jason’s interest in survival and the military. In the beginning, Jason’s goals for Flammenwerfer are for it to function and be cool. When Jason repurposes Flammenwerfer to be a snowmobile, he no longer cares if it looks cool. He just wants it to work. Before the storm, Jason’s shop grade was riding on Flammenwerfer being functional. The cart proves to be defective, which would have cost Jason grade-wise in his life pre-storm. As a result of Jason’s incomplete work, Pete pays with his life, a much more dire consequence than a failed grade.
Jason names Flammenwerfer long before the nor’easter hits. It’s ironic that he chose a heat-related name for the thing that becomes the group’s last line of defense against cold. A Flammenwerfer (flamethrower) is also a weapon, and the group faces a battle against nature. When Pete takes Flammenwerfer to go for help, the cart flips over and starts smoking, a natural byproduct of its namesake. Pete’s plan literally goes up in smoke.
Flammenwerfer serves as the catalyst for both the kids becoming trapped and being rescued. Jason asks Weems and Pete to stay late to help him work on the cart. Even after early dismissal, the boys keep their plans. If they had called Jason’s dad to pick them up earlier and not stayed to work on Flammenwerfer, they may not have gotten stuck at school. At the end, Pete risks and loses his life taking Flammenwerfer into the storm. When Flammenwerfer flips over, Weems rushes out to save his friend. Weems is too late, but since he’s already so far from the school, he continues on to search for help. If Pete hadn’t taken Flammenwerfer out, Weems wouldn’t have left the school and the National Guard wouldn’t have found him. Flammenwerfer’s failure allows Weems to succeed in getting help for his friends.
Prayer/Angels
At the beginning of the story, Weems doesn’t think of himself as religious and has no particular affinity toward any religion. It’s not until Chapter 18 that prayer comes into the story. At first Weems means to pray alone, but he hears Jason join him. As the book progresses, Krista also prays; though, she seems more earnest in her connection to religion than the boys. Weems’s request for the storm to stop is not answered by the end of the book, but his prayers are answered, in a way, when he’s rescued by the National Guard.
In Chapter 18, Weems can’t sleep and tries prayer to ease his mind. He also figures praying for the storm to stop can’t hurt. He is quiet and doesn’t draw attention to himself, but Jason hears and joins in. In Chapters 23 and 32, Weems and Jason kneel together and do a more formal prayer. Krista joins them, and Weems starts to see Krista as more than just attractive. Here, Weems specifically prays to the angel Gabriel for two reasons: Gabriel is the bringer of news (something the group wants and needs) and Gabriel may be less busy than God and able to respond. Weems also prays for his mom in hopes Gabriel will notice his selflessness. Weems’s behavior and thoughts here show how he has changed as a result of the storm and uncertainty. He hasn’t prayed since he was young, but fear and hope cause him to break the hiatus.
Weems’s prayers come true, in a way, in the final chapters. After Pete’s death, Weems continues through the storm. He sees a man skiing and stops moving. The smell of a wood fire (and hope of help) isn’t enough to get him moving again, and he collapses in the snow. Hypothermic and on the verge of death, Weems mistakes a helicopter for an angel. For a moment, Weems believes his prayers to Gabriel were successful and that the angel came to let him rest. Weems hears the flapping of wings (propeller blades) and sees a heavenly glow (search light). It’s not until after he’s aboard the helicopter and warmed up that he realizes it wasn’t Gabriel, after all. Weems’s prayers may have helped his rescuers find him, but it’s likely he’ll never know for sure.
