Explain why Theodore Taylor dedicated The Cay to Dr. King and his dream. Why does he think young people should be involved in making that dream a...

After reading The Cay by Theodore Taylor, his reasons for dedicating the book to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. are fairly obvious. Taylor wrote a book to show that we are all trying to survive in a world that is not always friendly to us. He shows us Phillip, a young boy who has been raised to believe being White is better than being Black, and that his race is somehow superior to Timothy's. Through...

After reading The Cay by Theodore Taylor, his reasons for dedicating the book to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. are fairly obvious. Taylor wrote a book to show that we are all trying to survive in a world that is not always friendly to us. He shows us Phillip, a young boy who has been raised to believe being White is better than being Black, and that his race is somehow superior to Timothy's. Through the book, though, Phillip depends on Timothy. Timothy becomes Phillip's eyes when he is blinded. He becomes a mentor, a father-figure, and a friend, and over time the idea of race disappears. In Dr. King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech, he said,

"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed, 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.' I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood" (King 2).

Phillip and Timothy are representative of that dream. Young people are often much better at this than adults because they are better at looking beyond color and into another's character. Though Phillip initially didn't like Timothy because he judged him based on the color of Timothy's skin, he learned that Timothy was a very good man. Timothy may not have been able to read, but he knew so much more than Phillip did about the ocean, the weather, and survival. Phillip realized how very fortunate he was to know Timothy. Maybe Taylor's hope is that when we take the time to get to know others, all of those racial barriers can disappear, and Dr. King's dream can become a reality. May it be so.