Phillip's Character In The Cay

Have you ever thought about the evolution of developing a character trait over a course of unfortunate events, just because those things happened? Well, that’s basically what happened in the book, The Cay by Theodore Taylor. The main character in this book, Phillip Enright, has to live through some pretty bad events, but ends up having some major character changes that help him get off the island. In The Cay Phillip’s character reveals that through many problems and events he developed independence, maturity, and determination.

Phillip demonstrates independence after experiencing blindness as evidenced in the novel when he was able to survive by himself on the cay after Timothy’s death. At the beginning of the novel, Phillip was very subordinate

At the beginning of the novel Phillip is an immature brat being rude to Timothy and being childish about everything. As stated in the novel in chapter 9, pages 70-71 Phillip says to Timothy, “You ugly black man! I won’t do it! You’re stupid, you can’t even spell.” Phillip says that to Timothy all because Timothy is making Phillip do work and Phillip is just griping about it. Timothy however, has had enough of Phillip’s excuses so when Phillip throws that shade at him, Timothy strikes him, maybe literally trying to knock some respect into him. At this part of the novel Phillip is slightly more cultivated, although he’s not completely mature yet, he’s getting there. During chapter 10, pages 75-76 Phillip mentions, “We talked for a long time when the rain began to slack off.” What this means is Phillip is becoming closer to treating everyone fairly, no matter what your skin color. He’s starting to actually talk to Timothy instead of treating him like a servant and trash. Now we have come to the point where Phillip is mature and is now treating Timothy like his best friend. In chapter 10, page 76, Phillip says,”I moved close to Timothy’s body before I went to sleep. I remember smiling in the darkness. He felt neither black nor white.” Because Phillip is now

At the beginning of the novel Phillip has lost all hope, he pretty much thinks there is no way they are gonna get off the island, he was being irresolute to the situation. To provide evidence for his actions in chapter 3, page 33 Phillip states, “I was thinking that our luck wasn’t so good. I was thinking about my mother on another boat or raft, not knowing I was all right. I was thinking about my father back in Willemstad. It was terrible not to be able to tell him where I was. He’d have boats and planes out within hours.” In that part of the novel it shows that Phillip is afraid and doubting on if they will get rescued. Toward the middle of the novel, Phillip starts to build more determination to get off the island, he now realizes it’s probably gonna take an effort. In chapter 11, page 86, Phillip starts to say, “...I got up and began feeling around the framing of the hut. There was nothing on the sides of it, and I decided whatever he’d attached had to be on the roof. I knew there was several lengths of log over near the campfire. So I approached it, found one of the logs, and rolled it over to the entrance to the hut. I stood on it and felt along the cross-frame that held the roof up.” Phillip had noticed there was a problem with the framing of the hut, but