Timothy of the Cay
 | |
| Author | Theodore Taylor |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Historical fiction |
Publication date | 1993 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| ISBN | 978-0-152-06320-7 |
| OCLC | 28422724 |
| Preceded by | The Cay |
Timothy of the Cay is a book written by Theodore Taylor. It is a prequel for Timothy and a sequel for Phillip to The Cay.
The synopsis
The book discusses Timothy's life before the events of The Cay, when he was living in "Back O' All", the poorest section of the squatter's village Charlotte Amalie, on the U.S. Virgin Island of St. Thomas, and Phillip Enright Jr.'s life after the same events. The theme to this story is making dreams a reality.
Timothy
According to Timothy of the Cay, Timothy had been abandoned as a baby at the residence in Back O' All where Hannah Gumbs, a former coal carrier turned washer-woman who reared him, was a squatter. As a boy, he formed a dream of one day being captain of his own schooner, which he meant to name after the woman he called "Tante Hannah". Even though she was not Timothy's biological aunt, Timothy still referred to her as this. When he tried to become a cabin boy on one ship, its captain took on a "bukra" boy instead because he was a negro. A "bukra" was a white boy in the richer part of St. Thomas. When he finally got a job on another ship, he was fourteen but claimed an age of sixteen.He later claimed to be older so he could become part of the crew on the Hato.
Hanna Gumbs died in Timothys first four years at sea. Timothy worked long enough and hard enough, both at sea and on land, to be able to afford a schooner originally named the Tessie Crabb by what he guesstimated were his forties. Holding a master's license in the name of "Timothy Gumbs" (he would think of himself simply as Timothy, without a family name, for his entire life); by this time, he renamed this schooner the Hannah Gumbs, as he had always intended. Making his living as its "captain", Timothy gleaned an extensive enough knowledge of the sea to be able, in his last months, to help Phillip Enright Jr. survive on a cay in El Boca de Diablo, "the Devil's Mouth".
The story describes how, after the captain of the Hettie Redd died, Timothy was asked to bring his body back for burial as temporary captain of the Hettie Redd. He did so reluctantly, suspecting that a violent storm, or "tempis'", might strike. One did, sinking the Hettie Redd with all hands let alone him and drowning all its passengers in spite of all he did to ensure their survivals. Though he was absolved in the inquiry, Timothy carried the guilt for the rest of his days and often wished he too had drowned in the storm.
At over seventy years of age, and two years after he had sold the Hannah Gumbs and retired from the sea, Timothy signed aboard the S.S. Hato, the Dutch-registered freighter that, according to The Cay, was sunk in April 1942, as an able-bodied seaman, in response to a call for volunteers placed early in 1942. The cause was that of a German U-boat that had torpedoed the S.S. Hato. When it picked up Phillip Enright and his mother in Curaçao, of what were then the Netherlands Antilles, they were fleeing to their native Virginia. Instead the Hato was torpedoed; as it sank, Phillip Jr. was struck on the back of the head by a piece of loose timber just as he was being thrown aboard a raft, which blinded him two days later. Most of the events in 'The Cay' follow the sinking of the Hato. Timothy later taught Phillip Enright to survive on his own. Approximately a month after the shipwreck (give or take a few days) another "tempos" struck in July. Timothy let Phillip live by shielding him from the storm with his back. The storm eventually takes his life away.
Phillip Enright
After his rescue from the Cay in El Boca de Diablo, Phillip was reunited with his parents (his mother had likewise survived the sinking of the Hato). His mother, Gracey Enright, continued to think of him as a child of age 19 for a long while, even after he was told that an operation could be performed that might restore his vision, but her husband, Phillip Sr., endorsed their son's decision to have that surgery. Phillip had come, since Timothy's life, to consider Timothy a guardian angel with whom he could sometimes speak, but his mother thought this idea was foolish.
They flew to New Jersey, where the surgeon who could perform the operation was based. The operation was a success, restoring most of Phillip's vision, though he would always need eyeglasses from that day forward. He and his father made plans to visit the cay where he and Timothy had survived for just over three months, until Timothy had been killed in a hurricane that had struck the cay when flying debris had severely lacerated him; he had given his life to protect Phillip's, using his body to shield Phillip from the debris. Philip had survived alone for almost two months afterwards, thanks to Timothy's having prepared him for just that.
Reception
This book was named "one of the greatest books for children" by Students Across America (SAA) in 2011. They said of it: "This novel is about the life of Timothy and Philip after their ordeal on the cay. In order to make sense of this story you must first read The Cay."