Theodore Taylor's novel The Cay is a story about overcoming prejudice, and being able to see beyond actual sight. The dedication in his novel, suggests that the story is going to be about issues of equality among races.
In the novel, Phillip is forced to leave his father behind and board a ship with his mother, in order to escape from the war. While they are on the ship, they suffer from a torpedo attack by the Germans. As a consequence of the blast, Phillip is blinded, and he ends up on a raft with a black West Indian man called Timothy, and a cat named Stew Cat. Eventually, Timothy steers the draft onto an island, even though Phillips thinks staying at sea is better. On the island, Timothy builds a shelter and finds food. There is a growing tension between the two characters until Phillip finally realizes that Timothy is only trying to help, and they decide to work together to survive. Phillip becomes Timothy's friend, and asks him to call Phillip by his name.
As they become closer, and even though Phillip is blind, he becomes more independent, and empowered. After a storm, Timothy is severely injured from trying to protect Phillip from debris and wind, and eventually he dies. Phillip gives his friend proper burial, and he realizes the only way to survive is by making a plane aware of where he is. He manages to make dark smoke to call a pilot's attention, and he and Stew Cat are rescued. An operation in New York miraculously cures Phillip blindness, and he returns home. His friend Henrik seems to young for him now, and he decides he wants to be friends with the black West Indian people who remind him of Timothy.
In the novel Phillip knows and understands that prejudice and bigotry towards people of different races is unfounded. But it takes his becoming blind to realize that people are not really that different. Once he loses his sight he is really able to see that there is no fundamental difference between people based solely on their appearance. It is the nature of their being, their character, that makes them worth of judgement. And it is not until people learn to see beyond their sight, that cases of racism will stop.
