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Chapter 8
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Cay, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Protection, Self-Sufficiency, and Maturity
Sight and Insight
Racism and Shared Humanity
Education vs. Experience
Summary
Analysis
In the afternoon, Timothy and Phillip begin to make a rope out of the thick vines that grow on the north end of the island. With one end attached near the hut and the other near the fire pile, it will allow Phillip to safely get down the beach and light the signal fire if an airplane passes when Timothy is busy. Phillip helps Timothy collect the vines, then sits and thinks about his life back on Willemstad as the old man begins to twist them together. Timothy interrupts Phillip’s reverie to say that the boy must start helping with more of the work. Phillip reminds the old man that he is blind, but Timothy stubbornly says that his hands aren’t blind. He wants Phillip to weave their sleeping mats out of palm fronds, just like the blind mat-weaver on St. Thomas.
The rope acknowledges the limitations imposed by Phillip’s blindness, but also pointedly suggests that he’s still capable of taking care of himself—and Timothy—should the need arise. By building devices like this, Timothy gradually teaches Phillip to fend for himself, coaxing him into a greater expression of maturity by showing him how to balance risk and reward appropriately. And while Phillip seems to appreciate the rope—and even helps gather the materials for it—he betrays his immaturity when he refuses to try the difficult work of weaving the sleeping mats blind.
Active
Themes
Phillip grows increasingly angry as Timothy gently but insistently guides his hands through the over-under pattern of weaving. His struggles with the simple task make him angrier still, until he throws the palm fronds in Timothy’s face, screaming his refusal and asserting his own superiority because he can read. Instantly, Timothy strikes him once across the face. Stunned and smarting, Phillip turns around—he won’t allow the old man to see him cry. Then, Timothy quietly resumes his own work, singing to himself under his breath.
Timothy’s actions insist that he’s not the boy’s caretaker and make it clear that he expects to have a mutually beneficial relationship with the boy, not a hierarchal one. Phillip would prefer this kind of hierarchal relationship, though, and he tries to insist on his superiority to bully Timothy into submission. But Timothy has too much dignity to allow that. What’s more, Timothy also seems to understand that coddling Phillip would, in the long run, do the boy a disservice.
Active
Themes
At first, Phillip pictures Timothy angrily, imagining his wild hair, calloused hands, and “ugly” face. But then he remembers that the old man is making a rope for him, without gripe or complaint. After a while, Phillip calls out Timothy’s name. Timothy once more hands the boy a bundle of palm fronds and reminds him how to weave them together. Something shifts inside of Phillip, even though he can’t quite say what. Suddenly, he tells Timothy he wants them to be friends. Surprised, Timothy says, “young bahass, you ’ave always been my friend.” Philip asks Timothy to call him “Phillip” instead, and Timothy agrees.
