The Cay (novel)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Cay, by Theodore Taylor
Enlarge
The Cay, by Theodore Taylor

The Cay is a novel (ISBN 0-380-00142-X) written by Theodore Taylor. The story is based on a real incident.

[edit] Plot summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

One morning in spring 1942, U-boats from the German Navy attack tankers bringing oil from Lake Maracaibo in nearby Venezuela to Curaçao and its refineries. Life on the island, which had been somewhat idyllic despite the war, begins to change as the U-boat remains offshore and no shipping will come without a naval escort, which the U.S. cannot yet provide.

Eleven-year-old Phillip Enright's parents are divided over whether to stay on the island or not. His father, an expert in producing aviation gasoline, works at the refinery for Royal Dutch Shell and cannot leave. However, his mother wants to return to her native Virginia.

After the spectacular sinking of a British tanker, his parents decide that Phillip and his mother will leave. Phillip would prefer to stay but has no choice. They risk a passage on a Dutch freighter bound first for Panama and then Miami, even though Phillip's father advises them to fly, Philip's Mother declines because she is scared of flying.

Off the coast of Panama, the freighter is torpedoed, and Phillip is knocked unconscious and separated from his mother by the ship's boom while trying to escape. He wakes up four hours later to find he has been rescued by an old black sailor named Timothy and is sharing a raft with him and Stew Cat, who had belonged to the ship's cook.

Timothy builds a shelter on the raft and catches flying fish to eat. Since Phillip's mother is racist, and has passed some of those attitudes on to her son, Phillip is wary of Timothy despite his kindness and resents that Timothy treats him like a small child.

After several days, Phillip's head injury causes him to go blind, forcing him to rely on Timothy for his own survival. They eventually find land, an uncharted cay in the dangerous reef area called Devil's Mouth, where they live for many months.

During the stay on the cay, Phillip comes to realize that his prejudice against black people is wrong, and he becomes friends with Timothy. Timothy becomes sick with malaria, and the pair must deal with a hurricane that passes across the island. Eventually Timothy dies and Philip must learn to live alone. However, he is eventually rescued, and he later gains his sight back.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Characters

  • Phillip Enright Jr., the narrator of the book. A boy of eleven years of age who lives on the island of Curaçao with his parents.
  • Henrik van Boven, Phillip's Dutch best friend.
  • Phillip Enright Sr., Phillip's father, a chemical engineer on loan from his company to Shell to assist with the war effort.
  • Grace Enright, Phillip's mother, the one who wanted to go to Virginia to keep away from the war. Disliked the smell of oil in Curaçao.
  • Timothy, an old sailor aboard the Hato, the freighter Phillip and his mother are taking back to the United States who rescues Phillip after the attack. He speaks in a thick West Indian accent and is from the Virgin Islands.
  • Stew Cat, the ship cook's cat, also rescued by Timothy after the Germans sink the Hato.

[edit] Awards

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../t/h/e/The_Cay_%28novel%29_39cb.html"