The Cay

The German Navy attack and Phillip Enright and his mother decide to evacuate the island. However Mr. Enright (Phillip’s father) is forced to stay there. Phillip and his mother take a Dutch Freighter so they can eventually get to Virginia. The ship is torpedoed and Phillip is separated from his mother. Phillip is knocked unconscious but when he wakes up he is on a raft with an African American man and a cat. The African American’s name is Timothy. Timothy rescued Phillip from the attack. Phillip has a horrible headache because of trauma from the attack. So, Timothy takes care of Phillip by catching fish from them and building the much needed shelter. Whenever Phillip wakes up he cannot see at all. Now, Phillip must rely on Timothy for everything. Phillip really struggles with this because for one Timothy is African American and two Phillip feel as if Timothy treats him like a child. Thy soon find a cay to live on. Phillip and Timothy spend a lot of time together and after awhile Phillip begins to change his thoughts about African Americans and him and Timothy become friends. Soon Timothy gets sick and there is a hurricane coming. They tie themselves to a palm tree to keep from being blown away. After it passes, Timothy has many injuries because he shielded Phillip. Eventually, Timothy dies. Phillip buries Timothy. A few weeks later Phillip is rescued from the island. He has surgery and gets his vision back. Phillip wishes to go back to the island to see Timothy.

This book was so sad! It made me cry so much. I really enjoyed reading it though. I read it when I was in the 5th grade and I loved it so much I decided on reading it again for this class. I liked reading it again because I understood certain parts better and the prejudice that went on in the book. Like Phillip didn’t like African Americans because of his mother. I would recommend everybody to read this book.