Conflicts Faced In The Cay By Theodore Taylor

To start, The Cay is a historical fiction novel written by Theodore Taylor in in1969. It describes the hardships and lessons of a young boy named Phillip Enright, who is stranded on an island with a man named Timothy for about 3 months. Over the course of the story, Phillip is faced with many hardships, one of them becoming blind as he is on a raft with Timothy and a cat named Stew. He also has to deal with Timothy’s death, which later leads to a happy ending as Phillip is rescued after 3 months, and having three operations to get rid of his blindness. Overall, there are so many conflicts in The Cay, but there are three that are central to the novel. Phillip not having the best feelings toward black people, Phillip dealing with his blindness, and the fact that he and Timothy are

The story takes place in 1942, so you would imagine that blacks and whites were not integrated at this time. Phillip’s mother, Grace, does not like black people, so when Phillip finds himself on a raft with one, he forces himself to believe the same thing. On the raft, Timothy mentions that they have chocolate, biscuits, and a water keg. When Phillip asks for water, Timothy allows him to but gives him a small quantity. Phillip asks for more water, but Timothy says they have to ration their supplies and won't give him more even though he is parched. Phillip thinks that Timothy is being stubborn, and gets mad at him. Although not getting along with someone who is black doesn't mean that one hates black people, Phillip already shared his thoughts about Timothy when he first caught sight of him on page 36. It reads: "Although I hadn't thought so before, I was now beginning to believe that my mother was right. She didn't like them. ...She'd say, when she knew where we'd been, 'They are not the same as you Phillip. They are different and live differently. That's the way it must be.'