What Are Philip Characteristics In The Caay

In The Cay, Phillip’s character reveals that when facing many conflicts, Phillip endures many characteristics such as determination, kindness, and courage. Philip goes from a little immature boy to a mature child. As this essay shows how he endures these many traits Phillip demonstrated determination after experiencing isolation as evidenced in the novel when he survived on The Cay without Timothy. In the beginning of the novel, Philip was not determined when their ship got torpedoed. He seemed to be calm, but he did not know what to do. In the novel it states, “...I felt myself being passed into the hands of a sailor on the boat, ” (Taylor 30). This shows that Phillip was not paying attention to what was happening. And since he wasn’t paying attention, he had to be passed into the boat. …show more content…
Toward the beginning of the novel Philip is very easily frightened, when he said, “ About nine-thirty I sneaked out of bed, went to the tool house, and took a hatchet and I put it under the couch. It was the only thing I could think of for fighting the Germans,” (Taylor 19). This shows that Philip was nervous about the Germans coming to attack them. But as the novel continues, he gains a little more courage when he is on the island with Timothy. In the novel it says, “ But I knew that lurking in the tide pools were the treacherous sea urchins, Stepping on them invited a sharp spine in your foot…” (Taylor 94). This shows that Philip becomes courageous enough to go fishing in a tide pool that could have dangerous sea urchins in it. Finally, Philip courageousness shows when he goes fishing for the first time by himself. IN the novel it states, “ After a few minutes, I had my courage up and I dived to the bottom, holding the sharp stick in my left hand now…” This shows that Philip has grown majorly from the beginning. He now has a large amount of