Phillip is an 11-year-old boy from Virginia. He lives with his parents on the island of Curacao, a Dutch settlement in the West Indies. He is a lot like a boy you might meet in school. He enjoys fishing, sailing, hiking, and playing with his friends.

How long was Phillip blind in the Cay?

Timothy thinks for a while, then he tells Phillip a story about a man he once knew who was hit on the head and blinded for three days. Maybe Phillip’s blindness will also be temporary. Phillip lays on the raft a moment. Then, realizing he is blind and lost at sea, begins to scream for his mother and father.

Why is the cay a banned book?

THE CAY was eventually banned in many libraries and, when the book was adapted for a 1974 television production (starring James Earl Jones as Timothy), the Council of Interracial Books for Children organized a protest march outside NBC.

Is Phillip blind in Cay?

After a German torpedo hits the S.S. Hato, Phillip is injured and eventually goes blind. This disability forces him to depend on the West Indian man Timothy and see the world from his point of view. As Phillip says after asking Timothy to describe the sea to him, “His eyes were becoming mine” (5.35).

How old is Timothy from the cay?

Timothy an African American man, who is over 70 years old, working as a deckhand on the S.S. Hato, from St. Thomas islands, grew up with no family and little education. Timothy is kind and caring towards Phillip and teaches him to become independent.

Did Phillip get his sight back?

Phillip’s vision is miraculously restored. Phillip’s surgery to restore his sight is a deus ex machina plot move if we’ve ever seen one.

How tall is Phillip in the Cay?

Phillip is well under six feet tall, since he can stand up in the hut that Timothy builds on the cay; Timothy, who is very tall, cannot stand inside without his head hitting the thatched roof.

What did Phillip do after he was rescued *?

Phillip is rescued by sailors from a destroyer. The destroyer contacts his family and takes him to a naval base, where his parents come for him. Phillip goes home with his family and has surgery in New York to recover his vision.

How long were Timothy and Phillip on the raft in the Cay?

On the Raft Phillip wakes up on a life raft with an old man named Timothy and a cat called Stew Cat. The next day, Phillip wakes up to find out he is blind. After four days on the raft, Timothy and Phillip land the raft on a tiny cay, or island.

What does Phillip believe grabs his arm while he is in the fishing hole?

Back on shore, Phillip’s wrist is bleeding, but not badly. The teeth went deep, though. Later Phillip figures out it was probably a moray eel that grabbed him.

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How does Philip react to being blind?

After Timothy becomes aware that Phillip is indeed blind, Phillip gets down on the raft, “blinking (his) eyes again and again, trying to lift the curtain of blackness”. He touches his eyes and notes that they do not feel any different, then he tells Timothy that the pain in his head has gone away.

What happened to Phillip as he was being lowered in the life boat?

What happened to Phillip as he was being lowered into the lifeboat? Something hit Phillip’s head while he was being lowered into the lifeboat.

Is the book the cay a true story?

The Cay is based on a true story. While researching another book, Theodore read about an incident that happened in 1942. The Germans had torpedoed a Dutch ship, slicing it in half. Those who survived the attack crawled into a lifeboat, looked back and saw an eleven-year-old Dutch boy.

What race is Timothy in the Cay?

In The Cay by Theodore Taylor, Timothy is an old African-American man who is shipwrecked with the narrator, Phillip.

What bad news do Timothy and Phillip discuss about where the island is situated?

Bad News. Phillip asks Timothy where they are. Timothy says that this is a cay, or small island, that he has never seen before. There are many islands around, but Timothy doesn’t know this one.

How did Stew Cat Help Philip?

Stew Cat also becomes a way for Phillip to express his care and feelings for other creatures. For example, Phillip fears for Stew Cat’s safety when Timothy thinks the cat is the jumbi (evil spirit) in Chapter 11.

How old does Timothy think Phillip is?

Also, Timothy does not know quite how old he is. Phillip says he is 12, which Timothy says is a “veree important age” (4.21). Phillip’s head soon begins to hurt, and he sleeps tucked up against Timothy with Stew Cat at his feet. When he wakes, his head still hurts, and they eat some food.

How did Stew Cat Help Philip survive?

Stew Cat’s Survival The cay is hit by a terrible tempest, or tropical storm. Stew Cat survives by climbing a palm tree to get away from the wind and waves. After Timothy dies in the storm, Stew Cat is Phillip’s only company on the cay. When Phillip is rescued, he takes Stew Cat with him.

What year did the cay take place?

The Cay by Theodore Taylor takes place in 1942 during World War II, when German submarines are bombing Dutch islands in the Caribbean Sea.

How did the cay end?

In the end, Timothy shields Phillip from the storm with his body, while the two hold onto a rope around a palm tree. Though he lives for a few moments after the storm, Timothy eventually dies; his body is cut, bruised, and bleeding from the wind and debris.

Why did Timothy wake up with a fever?

Fever. It is a morning in mid-May, and Timothy is having trouble breathing. Phillip asks if he is ok, and Timothy says he has fever from malaria. Malaria is a disease that is carried by mosquitoes.

What happens in chapter 15 of the cay?

As chapter 15 of The Cay begins, Phillip and Timothy are in the hut with Stew Cat waiting for the tempest to begin. As the wind and rain start, Timothy looks out and says it’s a hurricane for sure. … They lay there for two hours, being hit by wind, rain, and even a sea grape bush that was torn up by its roots.

How did Timothy feed them in the Cay?

Timothy and Phillip have been eating food they catch from the sea – fish, langosta, mussels, sea urchin eggs, and a spiny black sea creature. They tried seaweed stew and sea grape roots, but they were no good. Their only vegetable-like food is sea grape leaves.

What happens in chapter 17 of the cay?

What happened? Timothy warned Phillip that he should not go diving for langosta, or lobster, in the coral reef. Because of his blindness, it was too dangerous. In chapter 17 of The Cay, Phillip is tired of eating fish and sea grape leaves, so he decides to ignore Timothy’s warning and go diving for langosta.

What happened to Philip's mother in the Cay?

The thing about it, though, is that Phillip’s mom disappears after the S.S. Hato blows up and never enters into the story in a meaningful way again. It’s true that Phillip is reunited with his parents at the end of the novel, and his mother holds him and says she’s “sorry” (19.35).

What did Phillip do after the hurricane?

After a hurricane hits the cay and Timothy dies from “being tired”, Phillip, devastated, digs a small grave for him. He is left with only Stew Cat. Phillip is then rescued by a navy vessel. One year after he and Timothy find the island, he has many surgeries to get his sight back.

What did Timothy say was bad luck?

Timothy is not persuaded. He thinks that maybe Stew Cat is the jumbi. He says that their bad luck began when the cat got on the raft. Their raft got separated from the other rafts, Phillip went blind, and they got stuck on the isolated cay in Devil’s Mouth, where ships don’t pass.

How did Phillip get to the reef to fish?

At first, Timothy did all of the fishing, spearing the langosta (lobster) with a sharp stick. But Phillip’s blindness prevented him from doing this, so Timothy crafted fish hooks from nails so Phillip could fish with a pole.

When Phillip woke up Who was he with?

The two emerge from the collapsing building but Phillip is left unconscious with many burns and wounds. He is put in the hospital with Anne constantly watching over him. After the events of ‘From Now On’, Phillip wakes up and shares a tender kiss with Anne.

What is the moral of the cay?

The Cay by Theodore Taylor is a story about a boy who survives a shipwreck. The themes of The Cay include a friendship between very different people, overcoming obstacles to accomplish a goal, and personal growth through life experiences.

What happens on the Hato that prevents Phillip and his mother from reaching their destination?

What happened that prevents Philip and his mother from reaching their destination? Their ship is torpedoed.