1. think about the themes that are developed and emerge through the characters and events in the novel. is the cay a story that is mostly about relationships or survival? decide which theme the story is mostly about. support your position using specific examples and evidence from the story

in his famous speech at the march on washington in 1963, dr. martin luther king jr. said, “i
have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be
judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
theodore taylor published the cay six years later, in 1969. the dedication to the novel read:
“to dr. king’s dream, which can only come true if the very young know and understand.”
what does taylor want young people to “know and understand”? how will this dr.
king’s dream come true? explain what the dedication means and how the message of the book
is connected to dr. king’s dream. use at least two details from the novel to support your
answer

this question asks about your work in your reading character role. you may use your reading
selection to you answer the question.
what impact did the novel have on you as a reader? would you recommend the novel to a
friend? why or why not? support your response with at least two pieces of evidence from the
novel.

The story from Theodor Taylor, "The Cay"  is a novel  against prejudice, theres a strong massage againts racism. This is reinforced not only with the story itself but with the dedication he writes for M.L King.

The characters in this novel are:  

1) Phillip Enright an 11-year-old who is the protagonist and narrator of the story. He is  abandoned on a cay in "The Devil's Mouth". He is injured when his shiped get torpedoed and because of that injured goes blind and stablish a relationship with Timothy, a black man. When the day go theough he becomes to enjoy his company and appreciate building up a close relationship based on trust and care.

2) Timothy is a West Indian native of Charlotte Amalie in Saint Thomas. He is , is marooned with Phillip on the island and takes good care of him teaching him to live without his sight and be self-sufficient.

3) Stew Cat is the Phillip´s and Timothy´s cat. Their feline friend on the cay, especially closed to  Phillip. Before the ship is beaten he was the cook´s cat.  

4) Grace is Phillip's Mother she goes on the ship with Phillip but when it get beaten she drown with it.  

5) Mr. Phillip Enright  is Phillips father he works in an oil refinery and moves his family to  the Dutch West Indies.

6) Henrik van Boven is Phillip's friend in Curaçao, original from the Dutch Island and is against Grace prejudice and racism against black people.

The story is about relationships and the way their are built and reinforced daily. It´s about how prejudice can be knoked down and strong friendship can be born in its place when you don´t took people for granted. For example, at the begging of the story Phillip, maybe caring his mothers preconcepcion on black people, had a negative idea about Tymothy:  

“He crawled over toward me. His face couldn't have been blacker, or his teeth whiter. They made an alabaster trench in his mouth, and his pink-purple lips peeled back over them like the meat of a conch shell. He had a big welt, like a scar, on his left cheek. I knew he was West Indian. I had seen many of them in Willemstad, but he was the biggest one I'd ever seen.”  

But thorugh out the time passed they relation ship became closer and Phillip begun to accept Tymothy more naturally and his thoghts also were different: “I moved close to Timothy's big body before I went to sleep. I remember smiling in the darkness. He felt neither white nor black.“

Finally but not leats, about the Quote: “To Dr. King’s dream, which can only come true if the very young know and understand.” It might be because they have to experience and loose themselves on new relationships, leaving prejudice aside to expierience their own reality and build up their own ideas.