Connecting with The Cay

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Connecting with The Cay

• Garry Chapman

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I love reading The Cay
Text to Self How I connect this book to my own
experiences
Text to Text How I connect this book to other
things Ive read
Text to World How I connect this book to world
issues
Click on the palm trees to see the connections I
make when I read this book
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Text to Self
The Caribbean
Local Knowledge
The Elderly
Trust
Fear
The connections I make with my personal
experiences when I read this book
Death
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Text to Text
Newspaper Reports
The Classics
Survival Stories
Characters
Realism
The connections I make with other texts when I
read this book
Film
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Text to World
World War II
Coral Cays
Voodoo
Racism
Hurricanes
The connections I make with the world around me
when I read this book
The West Indies
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Text to Self
The Caribbean The setting reminds me strongly of
my travels to the Caribbean in 1979. Ill never
forget the shimmering turquoise blue of the water
and the brilliant white sand.
Chapter 10 Timothy said the water all around the
cay was clear and he could see many beautiful
fish.
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Text to Self
Local Knowledge Whenever Im faced with an
unfamiliar place or situation I try to find
someone with local knowledge, such as Timothy, to
help me find my way.
Chapter 3 Young bahss, he said, coming back
under the shelter, mebbe before dnight, a
schooner will pass dis way, an if dat appens,
you may drink dwhole kag. Mebbe dschooner will
not pass dis way, so we mus make our wattah
last.
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Text to Self
The Elderly Timothy reminds me of many elderly
people I know my grandparents and even my
parents included. They are usually wise and
always caring, but also often quite frail.
Chapter 11 Timothy was trying hard to make me
independent of him. I thought I knew why, but I
did not want to talk to him about it. I did not
want to think about the possibility of Timothy
dying and leaving me alone on the cay.
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Text to Self
Trust As I read the book I found myself willing
Phillip to put his trust in Timothy. There comes
a time in most relationships when you feel right
about trusting someone to look after you, just as
a blind man trusts a guide dog.
Chapter 13 I was alone on the reef but somehow I
always felt he was sitting on the beach nearby.
I could sense his presence, yet he was always at
the hut when I got back there.
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Text to Self
Fear The moment when Phillip discovers he cant
see reminds of those times when you suddenly fear
for your safety and you begin to panic. You need
to calm yourself down and deal with the issue
rationally.
Chapter 4 I put my hand in front of my face.
Even in the very blackest night, you can see your
own hand. But I could not see mine. I screamed
to Timothy, Im blind, Im blind.
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Text to Self
Death I always get choked up when I read the part
where Timothy dies. Although he is a fictional
character, he is symbolic of many people who I
know and care about, such as my own parents.
Chapter 16 I buried Timothy, placing stones at
the head of the grave to mark it. I didnt know
what to say over the grave. I said, Thank you,
Timothy, and then turned my face to the sky. I
said, Take care of him, God, he was good to me.
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Text to Text
Newspaper Reports The idea for writing this book
originated from a newspaper report. When I read
interesting reports in the papers, I often wonder
about the real stories behind them.
Theodore Taylor wrote The Cay after reading a
newspaper report of a boy seen adrift on a raft
at sea. It made him wonder why the boy was there
and what happened to him afterwards,
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Text to Text
The Classics There are many similarities with
classic works of liter-ature that I am reminded
of when reading this book. Life aboard a raft in
the Mark Twain books, the island ad-ventures of
Robinson Crusoe and the Swiss Family Robinson are
among them.
Afterword The Cay has become a classic because
it is short, satisfyingly shaped, and tackles a
big theme in simple, direct language. It has won
eleven literary awards and sold millions of
copies all over the world.
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Text to Text
Survival Stories This book reminds me strongly of
other survival stories such as Gary Paulsens
Hatchet. Often the characters must rely on
intelligent decision making and more than a
little luck to survive.
Blurb from Hatchet Brian finds himself alone in
the Canadian wilderness with nothing but his
clothing, a tattered windbreaker, and the hatchet
his mother has given him as a present It will
take all his know-how and determination and more
courage than he knew he possessed to survive.
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Text to Text
Realism I find this book very believable, because
the author has based every part of the story on
factual information. The tropical island
setting, the ferocious hurricane and the
difficulties of Phillips sight loss all seem
very realistic.
Chapter 15 It was strange and eerie in the eye of
the hurricane. I knew we were surrounded on all
sides by violent winds, but the little cay was
calm and quiet.
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Text to Text
Characters Timothy reminds me of books, such as
Goodnight Mr Tom where an older, wiser man
cares for and teaches a younger companion.
Phillip gradually changes as he learns valuable
lessons, as does Ramon in Victor Kellehers
Brother Night.
Chapter 9 Take dis han hol dpalm like dis
den ovah an under, like dmahn in Frenchtown
den more palm. I could feel him standing there
watching me as I tried to reeve the lengths, but
I knew they werent fitting together. He said,
Like dis, I tell you, and reached down to guide
my hand. Ovah an under
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Text to Text
Film The book brings to mind survival films such
as Cast Away and race relation films such as
To Kill a Mockingbird. I think it would make a
great movie itself with Morgan Freeman as Timothy.
To Kill a Mockingbird is used in many secondary
schools to confront students with issues relating
to racism. Many consider it one of the greatest
movies ever made,
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Text to World
World War II I knew a lot about the war in Europe
and the war in the Pacific, but this book taught
me a lot about the demand for oil bringing the
German U-boats down to the Caribbean.
Chapter 1 The whole world was at war and now it
had come to us in the warm, blue Caribbean. I
couldnt imagine that a shell from an enemy
submarine would pick me out from all the
buildings
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Text to World
Coral Cays The book helped me understand how
coral cays are formed. Its interesting how one
side can drop away into ocean depths while the
other can be a calm, shallow lagoon.
Chapter 11 To the south, the beach sloped
gradually out into the water. On the north side
it was different. There were submerged coral
reefs and great shelves. The water became deep
very abruptly.
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Text to World
Voodoo One frightening part of the book is where
Phillip fears Timothy has harmed Stew Cat.
Timothy grew up in a culture where voodoo is
widely practised and it is no surprise that he
fears evil spirits.
Chapter 11 Dislan mus ave a jumbi, said
Timothy. Dont talk nonsense, Timothy, I
said. Devil spirit harass an meliss us, he
said darkly.
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Text to World
Racism The book reflects real life when we learn
of the racist attitude of Phillips mother
towards the native West Indian people. Later on
Phillip begins to display similar traits, but
changes as he comes to know Timothy better.
Chapter 10 I asked Timothy why there were
different colours of skin, white and black, brown
and red, and he laughed back, Why bfeesh
different colour, or flower bdifferent colour?
I true don know, Phill-eep, but I true tink
beneath dskin is all dsame.
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Text to World
Hurricanes Its always fascinating to watch
hurricane stories on the TV news. This book puts
you right in the middle of a hurricane that
destroys almost everything on the island and
costs Timothy his life.
Chapter 15 In twenty or thirty minutes, the wind
picked up sharply and Timothy said that we must
stand against the palm again. Almost within
seconds, the full fury of the storm hit the cay
once more.
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Text to World
The West Indies The geography of the West Indies
islands and the Caribbean Sea plays a key role in
isolating the main characters on an island which
lies in the path of a killer hurricane.
Chapter 7 Young bahss, dere is, in dis part of
dsea, a few lil cays like dis one, surround on
bot sides by hombug banks. Dey are cut off from
dres o dsea by dese banks