Phillip Enright is 11 years old when the story begins. Though he was born and raised in Virginia, he moved to Curaçao with his parents when he was still quite young. Unlike his mother, who wishes she could return to Virginia, Phillip loves living in Curaçao. He has friends, he has learned Dutch and speaks it at school, and he has a relative degree of freedom on the island. In many respects, Phillip is an entirely ordinary boy. When the story begins, he is curious about the world around him, and especially about the war, asking his father many questions about it. Despite his curiosity, Phillip has no sense of how serious and devastating the war really is.

The Cay is a story of character growth, and Phillip develops over the course of the story. Initially, Phillip believes the worst of Timothy. He tells him, “You’re saving all the water for yourself” (35) when Timothy imposes strict rationing. Although Timothy clearly has the expertise that he needs to keep the two of them alive at sea, Phillip resists him every step of the way.

When Phillip and Timothy finally clash over Phillip’s unwillingness to help out with tasks on the cay, things begin to change.