63 pages 2 hours read

Theodore Taylor

The Cay

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1969

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.

Important Quotes

Quotation Mark Icon

“I was not frightened, just terribly excited. War was something I’d heard a lot about, but had never seen. The whole world was at war, and now it had come to us in the warm, blue Caribbean.”


(Chapter 1, Page 11)

At the story’s outset, Phillip is fundamentally still a child. He does not understand the profound dangers and consequences of the war or its potential impact on his own life. This characterization moment sets up Phillip’s growth as the story progresses.

Quotation Mark Icon

“I guess my mother was homesick for Virginia, where no one talked Dutch, and there was no smell of gas or oil, and there weren’t as many black people around.”


(Chapter 1, Page 17)

Phillip has grown up in an environment where his mother’s racism goes unquestioned. He has internalized her beliefs about Black people despite having no genuine understanding of the history of race and racism in America and its colonies.

Quotation Mark Icon

“Just as we were ready to go, there was an explosion and we looked toward the sea. The Empire Tern had vanished in a wall of red flames, and black smoke was beginning to boil into the sky.”


(Chapter 2, Page 22)

This is the first moment when the consequences of war become real for Phillip. The explosion of the Empire Tern foreshadows what will later happen to Phillip and his mother. Phillip’s previously carefree attitude to the war evaporates in this moment.

Related Titles

By Theodore Taylor

SuperSummary Logo
Plot Summary
Theodore Taylor
Guide cover placeholder