The Cay
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50 free The Cay trivia questions with answers — literature quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Theodore Taylor's The Cay has been read in classrooms since 1969. A boy from a comfortable wartime home is torpedoed at sea in 1942 and wakes on a raft beside Timothy, an old West Indian sailor, and a cat. Soon he cannot see, and everything he believes about the man beside him is put to the test. This quiz covers the whole story: Curaçao under threat from German submarines, the sinking of the S.S. Hato, the days adrift, the lessons of life as castaways, the night that changes everything, and the rescue. There are also questions on the characters, the setting, the way the story is told, and how Taylor came to write it, plus the television film and the follow-up book. It is written for middle school readers and for the teachers and parents reading along with them. Every answer comes with a short explanation, so it works as a comprehension check after the early chapters, a review before a reading test, or a book club warm-up.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In The Cay, what kills Timothy after he shields Phillip Enright with his own body?
A hurricane
A hurricane tears across the island in July, earlier in the year than Timothy expects such weather. Timothy takes the full force of the wind and driven sand on his back and dies soon after it passes.
Q 02Which actor played Timothy in NBC's 1974 television film of The Cay?
James Earl Jones
James Earl Jones took the role opposite child actor Alfred Lutter as Phillip, with Gretchen Corbett as the boy's mother. The film premiered on October 21, 1974.
Q 03In The Cay, what danger fills the sea when Phillip tumbles off the raft at the first sight of land?
Sharks
Sharks swarm the warm water around the raft, so Timothy dives straight in after the boy. He hauls Phillip back aboard by the hair and orders him to crawl from now on.
Q 04Theodore Taylor dedicated The Cay, published in 1969, to which American civil rights leader?
Martin Luther King
Martin Luther King had been assassinated the year before the book came out. Taylor later summed up the story as a simple message of understanding and love.
Q 05In The Cay, how do Timothy and Phillip keep count of their days on the island?
Pebbles in a can
Pebbles in a can mark the days, one for each. By late May the can holds 48, and Phillip keeps the count going alone after Timothy's death.
Q 06In The Cay, the cat on the raft belonged to which member of the S.S. Hato's crew before the sinking?
The cook
The cook kept him aboard the freighter, a fitting owner for a cat called Stew. He drifts away on the raft with Timothy and Phillip and is rescued alongside the boy months later.
Q 07In The Cay, which fever leaves Timothy delirious and staggering into the sea one day in May?
Malaria
Malaria strikes him down, and blind Phillip has to drag a man of well over 200 pounds out of the surf. Timothy never fully regains his strength afterwards.
Q 08In The Cay, what injury during the sinking of the S.S. Hato later costs Phillip Enright his sight?
A blow to the head
A blow to the head from falling timber as the freighter goes down damages the nerves. Phillip's world goes dark on his second day adrift on the raft.
Q 09In The Cay, what does Phillip plan to do one day, as he pores over charts of the Caribbean?
Sail back to the island
Phillip means to sail back to the island where Timothy is buried, chartering a boat to search for it. He expects to know the place by closing his eyes.
Q 10In The Cay, Timothy admits the island lies in which maze of shoals that ships rarely enter?
The Devil's Mouth
The Devil's Mouth is a cluster of small islands hemmed in by banks that make navigation hard, so no ship is likely to pass. Timothy keeps this from Phillip at first, then pins their hopes on a signal for aircraft.
Q 11In The Cay, which island west of Curaçao do German submarines attack first, in February 1942?
Aruba
Aruba is hit first, and Phillip's best friend claims almost nothing is left of it. The news excites Phillip more than it frightens him, and he slips out to look for submarines.
Q 12In The Cay, which American state does Phillip Enright's nervous mother long to go home to?
Virginia
Virginia is home: she never wanted to leave Norfolk for the Caribbean. Phillip was seven when his father's war work moved the family to Curaçao.
Q 13In The Cay, what short name does Phillip use for the German submarines hunting tankers off Curaçao?
U-boats
U-boats slip in at night in February 1942, and school is cancelled. Phillip wants to rush out and shake his fist at them with the crowds, but his mother orders him to stay home.
Q 21In The Cay, what name does Timothy use for the shellfish he catches to roast on the island?
Langosta
Langosta is the native lobster, the kind without claws, as Phillip already knows. Timothy roasts some for their first meal in the new hut, though a sulking Phillip gives him the silent treatment.
Q 22In The Cay, what does Phillip learn about Timothy while they lay out a message for aircraft?
He cannot spell
He cannot spell, and is too proud to say so, so blind Phillip scratches the word HELP in the sand himself. For a moment the boy feels superior to the man keeping him alive.
Q 23In The Cay, which chore does Phillip refuse, starting the quarrel in which Timothy slaps him?
Weaving sleeping mats
Q 14In The Cay, which schoolfriend explores wartime Curaçao with Phillip before the boy leaves for home?
Henrik van Boven
Henrik van Boven has a father in the island's government and a know-it-all air that irritates Phillip. After the rescue, Phillip finds his old friend seems very young.
Q 15In The Cay, why do Phillip and his mother leave Curaçao by sea rather than a safer way?
She refuses to fly
She refuses to fly, even though her husband warns that the sea is the dangerous way home. He books them onto a small freighter, joking that it is not worth a torpedo.
Q 16In The Cay, which raw catch does Timothy share with Phillip on their first evening on the raft?
Flying fish
Flying fish skim around the raft just before dark, and Timothy grabs two that land aboard and skins them. He hands the two biggest pieces to Phillip, who does not want to eat them uncooked.
Q 17In The Cay, which nickname does Timothy call Phillip until the boy asks to hear his real name?
Young boss
Young boss is how the old sailor addresses him from the moment Phillip wakes on the raft. After their one real fight, Phillip asks to be friends and to be called Phillip instead.
Q 18In The Cay, Timothy comes from Charlotte Amalie, the main town of which Caribbean island?
St. Thomas
St. Thomas is in the Virgin Islands, which makes Timothy an American like Phillip, as the boy points out. Timothy replies that he never thought about it.
Q 19In The Cay, what does Timothy first blame when Phillip's eyes turn hazy on the raft?
Staring at the sun
Staring at the sun is Timothy's guess, and he promises the darkness will pass. He says a man he knew in Barbados got his sight back after the same thing.
Q 20In The Cay, Phillip's island home of Curaçao lies just off which South American country?
Venezuela
Venezuela is close enough that small sailing boats arrive loaded with bananas, oranges and melons. Curaçao sits only about 65 km off the mainland.
Weaving sleeping mats is impossible for a blind boy, Phillip insists, before insulting Timothy. The slap shocks him into seeing that the old man is only trying to help.
Q 24In The Cay, what does Timothy run from the hut to the signal fire so Phillip can find it alone?
A vine rope
A vine rope lets Phillip feel his way to the fire pile if a plane comes while Timothy is away finding food. Later a cane frees him to walk the whole island.
Q 25In The Cay, Timothy fears that Stew Cat may be which kind of West Indian evil spirit?
A jumbi
A jumbi is the spirit of a dead person, and Timothy blames one for their run of bad luck. Phillip, who does not share the belief, is terrified for his pet.
Q 26In The Cay, what does Timothy nail to the hut roof to drive bad luck off the island?
A carved wooden cat
A carved wooden cat, bristling with spikes, goes up while the real Stew Cat waits unharmed out on the raft. Phillip had feared something far worse for his pet.
Q 27In The Cay, which feat does blind Phillip manage at the second attempt, delighting Timothy?
Climbing for coconuts
Climbing for coconuts scares him: the first time he freezes about ten feet up and comes down. He goes straight back and reaches the top, and the two feast on the milk and meat.
Q 28In The Cay, what does Phillip burn to make the black smoke that finally brings a plane down low?
Sea grape
Sea grape is oily enough to burn dark, unlike the pale smoke that failed to stop an earlier plane. Phillip works this out alone, weeks after Timothy's death.
Q 29In The Cay, what does Timothy lash himself and Phillip to as wind and waves sweep the island?
A palm tree
A palm tree becomes their anchor once the hut is torn away, and Timothy puts his own body between the boy and the wind. Phillip has to work the knots loose himself when it is over.
Q 30In The Cay, what does Phillip later guess seized his wrist in a rock hole after Timothy's death?
A moray eel
A moray eel is his best guess afterwards, since he never sees what seized him. The teeth go deep into his wrist, and he never dives in that hole again.