 | |
| Author | Theodore Taylor |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Genre | Survival |
| Publisher | Avon |
Publication date | 1969 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 105 pp (first edition, paperback) |
| ISBN | 0-380-01003-8 |
| OCLC | 26874149 |
| Followed by | Timothy of the Cay |
The Cay is a teen novel written by Theodore Taylor. It was published in 1969.
Taylor took only three weeks to write The Cay, having contemplated the story for over a decade after reading about an 11-year-old who was aboard the Dutch ship Hato when it was torpedoed in 1942, and who was last seen by other stranded survivors as he drifted away on a liferaft.[1] The novel was published in 1969 and dedicated to Martin Luther King Jr.
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The Cay by Theodore Taylor (Book Summary and Review) - Minute Book Report
Transcription
This is a story about a boy named Phillip who lives with his American parents on the island of Curacao in the Caribbean. The island is suddenly attacked by German U-boats, who surround the island and cut off any supplies from getting in and out. Phillip's mother decides she wants to go back to America and takes Phillip with her. However, the boat they are travelling on gets attacked and Phillip is thrown overboard, suffering a head injury. He awakes in a lifeboat with a large Black man named Timothy and a cat named Stew. The crew of three drift for a while until they approach a small island. However, Phillip soon discovers that he is blind due to his head injury. They make their way onto the island and set up camp. At first, Phillip is distrustful of Timothy because he doesn't like Blacks, but later discovers that he needs Timothy to be his eyes while they are on the island. Timothy teaches Phillip about the island and shows him skills to take care of himself, like fishing and weaving. Timothy senses a hurricane and prepares for the storm by tying both of them to a tree. When the storm hits, Timothy protects Phillip from the wind and rain. They survive the storm, but, exhausted, Timothy soon dies. Phillip buries him and resumes life on the island. Eventually, Phillip is rescued and reunited with his family. He gets surgery to fix his eyes and vows to find the island where Timothy is buried. Desert island stories are always difficult to narrate, especially from a first-person perspective, because we know that the narrator survives. How else could he tell the story? Racism is an underlying issue in this story. Phillip's mother has taught her son that Blacks are lower than Whites, an attitude that Phillip has when they first arrive on the island. However, due to his situation as a blind person, he must learn to get along with a Black man, subduing his inherent racism. However, we see that his racism is more than subdued as he befriends Timothy. Similarly, the author makes Phillip blind, both literally and figuratively. This blindness forces him to see beyond skin color to the point that he doesn't view Timothy as White or Black, but just as a fellow human being. In terms of storytelling, this story presents an interesting perspective on narration. For the most part, the narrator is blind and so he cannot give physical descriptions of his surroundings, but must describe his experiences through his other senses. What's even more interesting is how readers are still able to picture the setting and images through a blind narrator. You'd think that it could never work since a lot of people say how much they like authors who can paint pictures in their heads that are so visual. But Phillip, as the narrator, paints a picture of an island without visual images, but descriptive images. In fact, as readers, initially we are all blind when it comes to reading stories. The author describes images that are in their mind and we must recreate them in our mind to understand the world presented to us. This is a great example of the power of the imagination and the written word, that people are able to imagine something or someplace without having actually been there and seeing it.
Plot
When World War II breaks out, 11-year-old Phillip Enright and his mother board the S.S. Hato to Virginia, because his mother feels it is unsafe to stay in Curaçao with the German submarines surrounding the area. The ship is torpedoed, and Phillip is stranded in the sea with an old black man named Timothy and a cat named Stew Cat. Drifting at sea, Phillip is blinded, and Timothy suggests it is because Phillip stared at the sun for too long.
They soon find an island in Devil's Mouth and build a hut while keeping track of the days by putting pebbles in a can. With few supplies, they live alone together for two months, fishing and collecting rain water. The cay is only one mile long and half a mile in width. Initially, the pair are challenged to communicate as they came from different experiences. Eventually they both develop a strong bond of friendship by the end of the novel, as Timothy takes care of Phillip and teaches him to survive independently, to the point where Philip can survive on his own.
Airplanes fly over the cay, but they do not see Timothy and Phillip, lengthening their time stranded there. After a hurricane hits the cay, their shelter is destroyed. Timothy attaches himself and Phillip to a palm tree for safety, and Timothy dies from exposure. 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. It turns out he became blind due to being struck in the head by timber causing nerve damage. In the end, Phillip decides he will become a sea explorer and travel to multiple islands and soon hopes to find the cay he and Timothy had been stranded on, which he is certain he will be able to recognize by closing his eyes. [2]
Characters
Phillip Enright: 11-year-old protagonist and narrator, is marooned on a cay in "The Devil's Mouth" with Timothy. Initially skeptical of Timothy because of his race, he relies on him when he is blinded and comes to appreciate him, creating a strong bond of friendship and trust with Timothy.
Timothy: West Indian native of Charlotte Amalie in Saint Thomas, is marooned with Phillip. He cares for Phillip and understands many survival tactics including fishing and shelter-building. Although at times superstitious, he is old, wise, and patient, stern, and helps Phillip learn to be self-sufficient.
Stew Cat: Phillip and Timothy's companion and fellow castaway. Initially belonging to a cook on the S.S. Hato, Stew Cat is marooned with Phillip and Timothy after the torpedo attack on the ship.
Phillip's Mother, Grace: Accompanies Phillip on the S.S. Hato headed for Virginia, is separated from him when it sinks. Notably racist against the black inhabitants of Curaçao.
Phillip's Father, Phillip Enright Sr.: Relocates the family to the Dutch West Indies for government-related work. He works in an oil refinery that increases the production of aviation gas.
Henrik van Boven: Phillip's Dutch-national friend in Curaçao; he does not understand Phillip's mother's disdain for black people.
Racism
Early in the novel, Phillip's mother, Grace, expresses homesickness for Virginia, and is uncomfortable in Curaçao.[3] She dislikes the (predominantly black) bay workers in Curaçao, and instructs Phillip and his friend Henrik to avoid the area.[4] Henrik doesn't understand why she feels this way, and finds the mindset unusual. Once Phillip is a castaway, he begins to adopt his mother's prejudice tendencies and direct it towards Timothy.
As time goes on, Phillip discovers similarities between himself and Timothy. On page 40, Timothy reveals he's from Charlotte Amalie on St. Thomas; Phillip responds that this means he's American, citing the American purchase of the Virgin Islands from Denmark as a result of the Treaty of the Danish West Indies. Timothy only laughs and mentions that he never gave it much thought.[5] Phillip seems unsure what to make of Timothy and asks if his parents were African; he notices that Timothy looked "pure African" and says he looked very much like men he'd seen in "jungle pictures", but Timothy says he has only ever known the Caribbean islands.
When Phillip ends up blind, he comes to rely upon Timothy to provide for him and teach him. This alters the dynamic of their relationship greatly. Timothy proves to a surprised Phillip that he has a great knowledge of the Caribbean islands and survival tactics, able to make shelter, gather food and water, and survive. He teaches these to Phillip so that he won't be an invalid. In turn, their bond strengthens and Phillip grows to admire and befriend Timothy. He is devastated at Timothy's death, makes a grave for him, and sobs.[6]
When he returns to Curaçao, Phillip spends a lot of time with the workers of St. Anna Bay, many of whom knew Timothy and remember him fondly. Phillip notes that he feels close to those people; he no longer has any prejudice.[7]
Controversy
Published to both wide acclaim and pointed criticism for its impact as a promoter of racial harmony, The Cay received Jane Addams Children's Book Award in 1970. In 1974, when NBC-TV adapted its story for a television drama, the Council on Interracial Books for Children organized a press conference to "urge people to watch the telecast and, if you feel as we do, that an insidiously racist message is contained in the story, please call your local stations."[8] As part of that press conference, the current chair of the Addams Award Committee, who was not the chair at the time the award was given to The Cay, publicly stated that she thought it was a mistake to have named The Cay an Addams Award winner for having a racist theme.[9] In response, Taylor, who saw the work as "a subtle plea for better race relations and more understanding,"[10] returned the Award "by choice, not in anger, but with troubling questions."[9][11] In later years, Taylor reported that the Award had been rescinded.[9][12] Even though The Cay remains on the list of Addams Award winners, Taylor's claim is widely thought to be true and has become a part of reading and discussing the book as required reading in schools in dozens of U.S. states as well as internationally.[9]
Censorship and banning incidents
In 2020, the Burbank Unified School District banned the book from the curriculum on the back of complaints from four parents who allege the material in the book could lead to potential harm to the district's Black students.[13][14]
Adaptation and sequel
- The book was adapted into a TV film in 1974 with Alfred Lutter as Phillip, James Earl Jones as Timothy, and Gretchen Corbett as Phillip's mother. Phillip's father was not in the movie.
- In 1993, Taylor published Timothy of the Cay, a book which tells both of Phillip's life after and of Timothy's life before the ordeal.
References
- ^ Stewart, Jocelyn Y. (October 28, 2006). "Theodore Taylor, 85; wrote 'The Cay' and other novels for the young". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on February 2, 2017. Retrieved January 30, 2017.
- ^ Taylor, Theodore (1969). The Cay. Random House. ISBN 0-440-22912-X.
- ^ Taylor, Theodore (1969). The Cay. Random House. p. 17. ISBN 0-440-22912-X.
- ^ Taylor, Theodore (1969). The Cay. Random House. p. 36. ISBN 0-440-22912-X.
- ^ Taylor, Theodore (1969). The Cay. Random House. p. 40. ISBN 0-440-22912-X.
- ^ Taylor, Theodore (1969). The Cay. Random House. p. 112. ISBN 0-440-22912-X.
- ^ Taylor, Theodore (1969). The Cay. Random House. p. 136. ISBN 0-440-22912-X.
- ^ Council on Interracial Books for Children (1975). "The Cay: A Position Paper". Top of the News. 31 (3): 282.
- ^ a b c d Griffith, S. C. (2013). The Jane Addams Children's Book Award: Honoring Children's Literature for Peace and Social Justice since 1953. Lanham, NJ: Scarecrow Press. pp. 18–19. ISBN 9780810892033.
- ^ Miller, Stephen (2006-10-30). "Theodore Taylor, 85, Children's Novelist". New York Sun. Archived from the original on 2008-01-18. Retrieved 2007-10-10.
- ^ Taylor, T (1975). "In the Mailbag ... to the Editor". Top of the News. 31 (3): 284.
- ^ Roginski, J.W. (1985). "Theodore Taylor". Behind the Covers: Interviews of Authors and Illustrators of Children's Books. Littleton, CO: Libraries Unlimited. p. 212.
- ^ ""To Kill a Mockingbird," other books banned from California schools over racism concerns". Newsweek. 2020-11-13. Archived from the original on 2020-11-16. Retrieved 2020-11-16.
- ^ "SIGN NOW: Demand Burbank Schools Reinstate Banned Books". PEN America. 2020-10-13. Archived from the original on 2020-11-13. Retrieved 2020-11-16.
This page was last edited on 7 April 2024, at 05:05