Discussion Topic

Phillip and Timothy's Evolving Relationship in The Cay

Summary:

In The Cay by Theodore Taylor, Phillip's relationship with Timothy evolves significantly. Initially, Phillip harbors racial prejudice, viewing Timothy as inferior and treating him disrespectfully. However, as they are stranded together, Phillip becomes reliant on Timothy's survival skills. Timothy teaches Phillip essential skills like fishing and climbing, fostering independence despite his blindness. Through this, Phillip's perception changes, leading to a deep friendship. Timothy's sacrifices and guidance profoundly influence Phillip, helping him overcome his bias and learn respect and self-reliance.

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What were Phillip's feelings towards Timothy in The Cay?

This answer will change depending on what part of the novel a reader is reading. Phillip's opinion of and attitude toward Timothy completely changes over the course of the novel. At the start of the story, Phillip doesn't like Timothy at all. Phillip judges Timothy based on racial prejudice. He thinks Timothy is ignorant, stupid, and old. Additionally, Phillip isn't afraid to let Timothy know these thoughts.  

"You ugly black man! I won't do it! You're stupid, you can't even spell."

Those feelings gradually change, though, as Phillip and Timothy are forced to depend on each other for survival on the cay. Being recently blinded, Phillip is very dependent on Timothy's help and survival knowledge. Phillip slowly begins to realize that Timothy is extremely knowledgeable about how to survive and that Timothy is working very hard to keep both of them alive. Eventually, Phillip's hatred and disgust for Timothy changes to valued friendship.  

Something happened to me that day on the cay. I'm not quite sure what it was even now, but I had begun to change.

I said to Timothy, "I want to be your friend."

He said softly, "Young bahss, you'ave always been my friend."

I said, "Can you call me Phillip instead of young boss?"
"Phill-eep," he said warmly. 

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What were Phillip's feelings towards Timothy in The Cay?

    Timothy and Phillip become the shipwrecked odd couple of Theodore Taylor's novel, The Cay, when they climb aboard a raft and eventually make land after several days adrift. Because Phillip is not used to being around black people, he does not think highly of Timothy at first.

    I saw a huge, very old Negro sitting on the raft near me. He was ugly.

Phillip does not like Timothy's smell--it does not remind him of his mother. He does not trust Timothy's decision to sail for land, although it is probably the right move considering the sharks that consistently follow the raft. When the two make land, Phillip discovers that Timothy cannot spell, and this infuriates him even further.

    "You ugly black man! I won't do it! You're stupid, you can't even spell..."
    Timothy's heavy hand struck my face sharply.
    Stunned, I touched my face where he'd hit me...

Up to this point, Timothy has been completely subservient to his white "young bahss," but his angry slap seems to knock some sense into Phillip after all. He begins to treat Timothy with more respect, and eventually grows to love him.

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What were Phillip's feelings towards Timothy in The Cay?

Phillip's mother hailed from Virginia, still considered a part of the South and where slavery thrived less than a century before. She was homesick for her home state where "it was nice and safe" and "there weren't as many black people around."

"They are not the same as you, Phillip. They are different and they live differently. That's the way it must be."  (Chapter Three)

It is clear that Grace Enright did not care for the black natives of Curacao and probably had little to do with African Americans in Virginia, and Phillip's own actions were shaped by his mother's beliefs. He considered Timothy inferior: Phillip addressed Timothy by his first name, even though 

My father had always taught me to address anyone I took to be an adult as "mister," but Timothy didn't seem to be a mister. Besides, he was black.  (Chapter Three)

Phillip did not agree with Timothy's decision to paddle the raft to the island, believing they would be rescued if they continued drifting. Phillip considered Timothy "ugly" and "stupid," but he soon began to depend upon the old sailor, and soon the boy's inherent bigotry began to subside.

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What did Timothy teach Phillip in The Cay?

Even before Timothy realizes that his illness is serious, and that he'd better prepare Phillip to live alone on the island, blindness and all, the kind old man has begun to teach him things of value.

First, notice how he teaches Phillip to make the sleeping mats out of the palm fronds. Sure, the sleeping mats are useful, but the more important thing that Timothy is teaching the boy is that he has the capacity to work and get things done even though he lost his vision. Phillip keeps trying to get out of doing the work, keeps trying to make Timothy think he's as helpless as he feels. "The hands aren’t blind though," Timothy replies. This assertion instills in Phillip the belief that he has the power to survive.

Next, let's look at what Timothy teaches Phillip after the old man's illness has become serious. In Chapter 13, he teaches the boy how to fish, saying quite reasonably, "Well, you mus' den know how to provite your own self wid feesh." With patience and a soothing voice, Timothy teaches Phillip this invaluable skill and even helps him learn what to do if he falls into the water--something that Phillip is terrified of, ever since falling from the raft.

Later in Chapter 13, Timothy gives Phillip encouragement and help as the boy learns to scale trees to cut down coconuts. This is not just a practical survival skill but also a lesson in perseverance to the young boy: the fact that he previously couldn't climb the tree really bothered Phillip, but now that Timothy taught him successfully how to do it, they feel that "D'palm harass [them] no more." Meaning, of course, that they've conquered the impossible. Phillip feels so accomplished and so happy from eating the coconuts that he even thinks:

"It was almost as if I'd graduated from the survival course that Timothy had been putting me through since we had landed on the cay."

That "survival course" continues as Timothy teaches Phillip how to prepare for a hurricane in Chapter 14, how to tie down supplies and find high ground. As he's learning this from Timothy, Phillip realizes that he's also been taught how to conserve resources:

"I realized then why he had used our rope sparingly; why he had made my guideline down to east beach from vines instead of rope."

Because Timothy has taught all of these practical and psychological survival skills to Phillip, the old man's sad passing doesn't mean that Phillip is helpless afterward. Yes, Phillip is a child, and yes, he's blind, and totally alone on the cay, but Timothy's lessons keep Phillip alive until he is finally rescued.

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What is the relationship between Phillip and Timothy in The Cay?

This is a question that requires quite a complex answer to respond to it. It is important to realise that the relationship between Timothy and Phillip develops during the course of this story. Phillip initially is somebody who, as a product of his white, privileged upbringing, finds it very difficult to be with Timothy, who, as a black man, is considered by Phillip to be beneath him. However, it is key to focus on the way in which Phillip overcomes his prejudice and also the way in which Timothy firmly cares for Phillip and challenges his racial assumptions. 

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What is the relationship between Phillip and Timothy in The Cay?

Timothy is always very patient of Phillip.  At the beginning of the book, Phillip is immature and basically rude.  He treats Timothy with no respect at all, and he behaves very recklessly as well as treating Timothy badly.  However, Timothy seems to realize that Phillip is young and will learn, and he remains calm, polite, and patient.  He also shows Phillip boundaries, slapping him when he goes too far.  It does not take long for Phillip to begin to depend on Timothy, and accept his teachings.  By the end of the book they have become friends, until Timothy dies.  Even then, he has left a lasting impression and Phillip is forever changed from the experience.

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What is the relationship between Phillip and Timothy in The Cay?

Phillip is a young boy whose American father works for an oil company in the Dutch West Indies. He has been brought up to mistrust black men, primarily because of his Southern-born mother. When he and Timothy, a native St. Thomian sailor, are forced to share a raft together following the sinking of their ship, Phillip learns to depend on Timothy for warmth, food and vision. Timothy serves as a surrogate father for Phillip during their months on the island, and a teacher as well, preparing Phillip for surviving on his own when Timothy is no longer alive to take care of the boy.

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What does Timothy do for Phillip in The Cay by Theodore Taylor?

Timothy saves Phillip's life twice--once when the ship that Phillip and his mother are traveling on near Curacao is torpedoed by a German U-Boat, and later when a tempest strikes the island where Timothy and Phillip have been marooned. During the storm, Timothy uses his body to protect Phillip from the wind and later dies as a result of the battering his body has taken.

In addition, Timothy teaches Phillip to be more self-reliant, even though Phillip has gone blind. He teaches him how to fish, how to navigate around the island on his own, and how to climb into a tree to harvest coconuts. Phillip also learns to be more respectful and tolerant of others. Though Phillip learned from his mother to treat black people with disdain, Timothy teaches him the importance of respecting others no matter what they look like, and the importance of recognizing their humanity. 

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What does Timothy do for Phillip in The Cay by Theodore Taylor?

At the beginning of Chapter Six in The Cay by Theodore Taylor, Timothy sees a small island in the distance--a cay in the ocean. When he tells Phillip that he sees it, Phillip gets so excited that he stands up and falls overboard into the water. This enrages Timothy because there are sharks all around. Timothy jumps into the water to fish Phillip out, and he is able to put Phillip back onto the raft. Phillip knows Timothy is very upset with him.

"I knew Timothy was in a rage. I could hear his heavy breathing and knew he was staring at me. 'Shark all 'round us, all d'time,' he roared" (Taylor 52).

Timothy goes on to instruct Phillip to only crawl as long as they are on the raft. He soon settles down and asks Phillip if he is alright, and he explains that anyone can die in the water because there really are sharks all around them. Soon after, though, the two of them reach the cay, and their real adventure begins.

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What does Timothy do for Phillip in The Cay by Theodore Taylor?

In Theodore Taylor's The Cay, Timothy makes many preparations to teach Phillip how to fish, and learning to fish becomes critical when Timothy is afflicted with malaria. Though he gets better, there is a great chance he could be afflicted again due to his old age.

Timothy's first preparation is to shape many nails into fish hooks for Phillip to use and to attach those hooks to strands of a life line from the raft to use as fishing lines. A second preparation Timothy undertakes is finding an excellent fishing hole that is also very safe because it is on the reef. Every two feet along the reef, Timothy had "driven a piece of driftwood deep into the coral crevices so that [Phillip] could feel them as [he] went along" (p. 94). Another important preparation is teaching Phillip to get used to the fishing hole. He teaches Phillip how large it is and lets him feel along the ledge. He also teaches him what to do should he fall in to the hole.

To fish, Timothy teaches Phillip how to grab mussels, open the shells, and use a knife to pull out the mussel meat to use as bait on the hooks. Phillip then drops the line and baited hook into the water of the hole and, within a moment, he feels a "sharp tug" and flips the fish over his shoulder onto the reef (p. 96).

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Why is Phillip angry with his mother and Timothy in The Cay?

Phillip is angry because he is grieving the loss of his eyesight and his lifestyle as he knows it all at once. Anger is one of the steps that people take when they grieve a great loss. He is angry at his mother because he feels she has left him on this island with Timothy who is black. Phillip has grown up thinking that color means something when it comes to who a person is and he is angry to be stuck with someone he feels is beneath him. He is scared as well and it is being projected as anger, ungratefulness, and entitlement. Phillip goes through the grieving process for his eyesight and eventually comes to accept the loss and learns to live quite successfully with his blindness. He also learns a great lesson about friendship and tolerance. Phillip had to become literally blind to overcome his misconceptions of people who were different.

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In The Cay by Theodore Taylor, what was the turning point in Phillip and Timothy's friendship?

Chapter 9 in Theodore Taylor's young reader's novel The Cay marks the turning point between Phillip and Timothy's relationship. It is in this chapter that he and Timothy get into a quarrel, and Phillip has an epiphany.

Timothy had been busy on the island building a shelter, gathering things to eat, and weaving a rope out of vines that would stretch from their shelter on the hill down to their signal fire on the beach. Phillip had helped Timothy pull the vines for the rope, but while Timothy busily wove the rope, Phillip sat with his back against a palm tree, feeling helpless. It's at this point that Timothy says to Phillip, "Young bahss, you mus' begin to help wid d'udder wark" (p. 70). Phillip protests, reminding Timothy he is blind; Timothy replies that hands can still see even when eyes cannot. He then tells Phillip to weave mats for them to sleep on out of palm fronds and tries to show him how to do it. Phillip gives a halfhearted attempt but soon gives up in frustration. In his anger and frustration, Phillip yells all of the insults against Timothy he has been harboring in his heart since he met Timothy, resulting in Timothy slapping him.

At that moment, Phillip is overcome by shame, but, most importantly, it dawns on him that the rope Timothy is busily making is for Phillip, to help Phillip get around the island independently. This epiphany helps Phillip see how selfless and caring Timothy is. Phillip then gives weaving the mats another try and says to Timothy, "I want to be your friend," to which Timothy replies, "Young bahss, you 'ave always been my friend," marking the turning point in their relationship (p. 72).

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How does Phillip treat Timothy in The Cay?

The answer to this question changes depending on what part of the story you are reading because Phillip's opinion of Timothy most definitely changes as the story progresses. When the story begins, Phillip doesn't like Timothy.  All that Phillip sees is an old, dumb, black man, and Phillip treats him with extreme racial prejudice. In the earlier chapters, readers are given hints about Phillip's negative views of black people and Timothy, but in Chapter 9 Phillip actually verbally abuses Timothy.  

"You ugly black man! I won't do it! You're stupid, you can't even spell."

Of course over the course of their forced dependence on one another, Phillip's attitude toward Timothy begins to change.  Phillip's blindness makes him extremely dependent on Timothy, and Phillip slowly begins to realize that Timothy is only trying to help keep the two of them alive. Phillip also realizes that Timothy is not stupid. He is incredibly smart when it comes to knowing how to survive. Phillip's attitude changes from disgust and hatred to acceptance and then friendship.  

Something happened to me that day on the cay. I'm not quite sure what it was even now, but I had begun to change.

I said to Timothy, "I want to be your friend."

He said softly, "Young bahss, you'ave always been my friend."

I said, "Can you call me Phillip instead of young boss?"
"Phill-eep," he said warmly. 

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In The Cay, what causes the relationship between Phillip and Timothy to change?

In the beginning of Theodore Taylor's The Cay, protagonist Phillip is emotionally immature and stuck in the prejudices he has been taught; however, the more he needs to rely on Timothy and the more he learns from Timothy, the more he sheds his prejudices and becomes very close to Timothy.

At the start of World War II, Phillip had moved with his family from Virginia to the Caribbean island of Curaçao because his father had been solicited for the war effort for his skills in oil refinery. When German submarines attack Aruba, Phillip's mother grows uneasy and wants to move back to Virginia despite her husband's warnings that traveling at this point would be unsafe. Regardless, they board the S.S. Hato headed for Miami, which is torpedoed and sinks. Phillip finds himself having been rescued from the wreckage by a black Caribbean named Timothy and pulled on board a raft. Timothy was the biggest, darkest black man Phillip had ever seen and, due to Phillip's prejudices, he at first finds Timothy ugly. Phillip's prejudices had been fed by his mother's own prejudices, who used to warn Phillip not to trust black people:

They are not the same as you, Phillip. They are different and they live differently. That's the way it must be. (Ch. 3)

However, Phillip had also been very severely hit in the head during the shipwreck and soon finds himself blind and relying on Timothy for survival. At different points in the early chapters of the story, Timothy rescues Phillip from falling off of the raft, takes them to a cay where he thinks they will have a better chance of survival,  builds a fire pit for a signal fire, builds a shelter, and fishes for their meals. Soon after they settle on the cay, Timothy begins weaving a rope out of vines that extends from their shelter down to the fire pit. The rope is for Phillip to use to navigate on his own to the pit and light the fire should a plane come and should Timothy be out fishing. He also encourages Phillip to work and get accustomed to his blindness, teaching him to weave mats out of palm fronds for them to sleep on. At first, Phillip stubbornly refuses, but he is soon brought to his senses when he realizes that Timothy is selfishly making a rope for Phillip's needs. As Phillip phrases it, something happened inside of him that day to change him, making him turn to Timothy and say, "I want to be your friend." He is very touched when Timothy's reply is, "Young bahss, you 'ave always been my friend." Phillip then asks Timothy to call him Phillip instead of "young boss" (Ch. 9).

As the story continues to progress, Phillip cares for Timothy the best he can when he comes down with Malaria, and Timothy gives his life for Phillip as he shelters Phillip from a fierce hurricane.

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In The Cay, why might Phillip harbor resentment toward Timothy?

In The Cay by Theodore Taylor, Phillip harbors feelings of resentment toward Timothy because he has been brought up to believe that Black people are inferior to Whites. He sees Timothy as an uneducated old man who works on the docks--someone of a lower class than Phillip is. Racism is learned at a fairly young age, and children treat others in the way they see their parents and the adults around them treat others. Phillip's mother, in particular, has always looked down upon the Black ship workers, and Phillip does not know any better than what he has been taught.

"My mother was right, I thought. They had their place and we had ours. He did not really like me, or he would have taken me along. He was different" (Taylor 64).

When he realizes that Timothy cannot read, this just further solidifies his belief in Timothy's inferiority. 

"I felt good. I knew how to do something that Timothy couldn't do. He couldn't spell. I felt superior to Timothy that day, but I let him play his little game, pretending not to know that he really couldn't spell" (Taylor 67).

Of course, eventually Phillip realizes that Timothy is just as good a man as any White man Phillip has ever known. Once he gets to know Timothy, he sees Timothy as both a father figure and as a best friend. Phillip is able to reach the understanding that the color of someone's skin has nothing to do with that person's character.

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How did Timothy demonstrate concern for Phillip's welfare in The Cay?

After Phillip goes blind, Timothy becomes Phillip's eyes and hands for a time. While on the raft, he catches their food and after they land on the cay, he continues to provide food for them and he also builds their shelter. After Phillip goes blind, Timothy refuses to allow him to feel sorry for himself. He teaches Phillip how to fish and weave sleeping mats. Timothy encourages Phillip to overcome his fears and eventually, he does. Phillip climbs the coconut tree and chops down coconuts for he and Timothy to eat and drink. Phillip also gets enough gumption to leave their camp and explore the island on his own. Soon, he no longer needs Timothy to get him food. 

Timothy's last gifts to Phillip are discovered after Timothy's death. Phillip found that Timothy had taken great pains to ensure his welfare in the event of his demise. Timothy had made dozens of fishing poles and secured them to a tree. He took what was left of their supplies from the boat ( a knife, a few squares of chocolate, and some matches) puts them in a tin and places them high in a palm tree.

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Why was Phillip surprised by his developing relationship with Timothy in The Cay?

Phillip has been raised to act like an entitled, privileged, and racist individual, and therefore thinks of himself as superior. Phillip thinks of black people as less worthy than he is.  Take the following quote that Phillip says to Timothy at one point.  

"You ugly black man! I won't do it! You're stupid, you can't even spell."

It's clear that Phillip believes that Timothy is incapable of teaching and helping Phillip because Timothy is black.  In Phillip's eyes, being black makes a person both dumb and ugly.  

Once on the cay, Timothy treats Phillip with respect even though Phillip doesn't do the same in return; however, Timothy doesn't grovel at Phillip's feet the way that Phillip might be used to seeing from an old, black man.  In fact, right after Phillip says the above quote, Timothy slaps Phillip for saying it.  The action shocks Phillip, and it serves as a turning point in their relationship.  Phillip is surprised at the developing relationship because, despite, the racial divide and vast age difference, Phillip begins to see Timothy as an equal.  By the end of that chapter, Phillip asks if the two of them can be friends. By the time that Timothy dies, their friendship is a strong and deep relationship.  

I didn't know what to say over the grave. I said, "thank you, Timothy," and then turned my face to the sky. I said, "Take care of him, God, he was good to me."

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Where are Phillip and Timothy in Theodore Taylor's The Cay?

In Theodore Taylor's The Cay, by the time Timothy sees land, Timothy is certain that they have drifted into the cays in the Caribbean, which they were passing when their ship was torpedoed. He is aware of multiple islands they could be near, including Roncador, Serranilla, Rosalind, Beacon, North Cay, Providencia, and Jamaica. He also knows that there is a danger of drifting too deeply into the cays because they will encounter coral reefs. Since he knows coral reefs are a danger, he asserts that they should land on the island they see and set up camp.

After exploring the island, Timothy becomes convinced they are on an island in a section of the cays called Devil's Mouth. As he explains to Phillip, Devil's Mouth is a group of cays surrounded by "great banks of coral," and the coral makes it impossible for ships to enter the region (p. 61). He has reached the conclusion they are in Devil's Mouth because he has found that their tiny island is shaped like a U and surrounded by coral on either side of the U, as he explains in the following:

'Tis a U-shaped ting, wit dese sharp coral banks on either side, runnin' maybe forty, fifty mile ... . (p. 61).

Despite being in Devil's Mouth, Timothy remains confident of being rescued because he knows fishing boats may enter the area and that planes will pass overhead. If they build a large bonfire as a signal fire, they have a good chance of being seen by a plane.

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What event changes Timothy and Phillip's relationship in The Cay by Theodore Taylor?

When Phillip and Timothy are first stranded together in The Cay by Theodore Taylor, Phillip thinks of himself as better than Timothy. He resents Timothy and thinks he is stupid, especially when Phillip finds out that Timothy cannot read and write. When Phillip becomes frustrated because Timothy is trying to get him to be more independent by having him make a rope, Phillip yells at Timothy.

"You ugly black man! I won't do it! You're stupid, you can't even spell" (Taylor 71).

Timothy reacts by slapping Phillip across the face. Soon after that Phillip realizes that the rope Timothy wants him to make is actually for Phillip, and this creates a change in him. Phillip decides he wants to be friends with Timothy. This is a first step in Phillip's maturing from a spoiled brat to a young man. He begins to understand that Timothy is teaching him how to survive in case something happens to Timothy. And of course, because of Timothy, Phillip does learn invaluable lessons and is able to survive when he no longer has Timothy there to help him. 

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