In the beginning of Theodore Taylor's The Cay, Phillip has been influenced by his mother's racist views. Being racist, Phillip's first impression of Timothy is that he is ugly, and Phillip hates the fact he is stranded on a raft with an "ugly" black man. Thinking that Timothy is ugly allows Phillip to feel superior to Timothy. Yet, from the moment Phillip first gains consciousness on the raft after having received a severe head injury, he is dependent on Timothy, and that dependence grows stronger the moment Phillip becomes blind.
Early in the story, Phillip particularly displays his sense of superiority when he reflects to himself that his parents had taught him to "address anyone [he] took to be an adult as 'mister,' but Timothy didn't seem to be a mister. Besides, he was black" (p. 34). In other words, due to the color of Timothy's skin, because of Phillip's racist upbringing, Phillip doesn't think Timothy deserves the respect of a formal title.
Yet, despite this feeling of superiority, Phillip depends on Timothy for survival from the start. Timothy builds a shelter on the raft to protect Phillip's eyes from the sun, comforts Phillip when he throws up, and keeps him warm from the cold wind. Once Phillip goes blind, Timothy protects him from sharks, rescues him when he falls overboard, acts as his eyes by describing their surroundings, and once on the island, teaches him to not be afraid of his blindness and to be independent. Once on the island, before Phillip changes and grows independent, one of the clearest moments in which Phillip demonstrates his feelings of dependence on Timothy, while at the same time still feeling racially superior, is when Timothy goes off to explore the new island, and Phillip grows so frightened that when Timothy returns, Phillip demands, "Never leave me again. Don't you ever leave me again!" (p. 60). But, by and by, Timothy helps Phillip find the courage he needs to become independent.
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