"Dip in the Pool" presentation

PLOT LINE

"DIP IN THE POOL"

CHARACTERS

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Protagonist: Mr Botibol - a desperate man who had bib all of his and his wife's savings in the ship's pool

Old Lady With Fat Ankles - lazy woman who fails to help with Mr Botibol's plan

Mrs Renshaw - a passenger in the boat

Maggie - The supervisor of the Old Lady With Fat Ankles

Purser - the man who talked wit Mr Botibol and provided him with some information on the auction and the Captain's estimate

Captain - captain of the boat

Ethel - Mr Botibol's wife who did not join in his travel

Auctioneer - host of the ship's auction

POINT OF VIEW

The point of view of this story is Third Person Limited. The narrarator of this story onlyshows knowledge of the protagonist's thoughts and refers to the characters as "he" or "she".

SUMMARY

SETTING

Mr Botibol decides to take part in the ship's auction pool in order to impress his wife. In the auction pool, the passengers bid on the number of miles the boat will travel by noon of the next day. Thinking that the caprain had made his estimate before the weather turned bad, Mr Botibol decides to bid on "low field". The next day, early in the morning, Mr Botibol is shocked by the calm ocean and clear skies. Figuring out that it would be near impossible for him to win the bid, he becomes desperate to find any solution to his problem. Mr Botibol quickly formulates a plan to jump of the ship in order to slow down the boat and decrease the distance it would travel. When he goes up onto the deck, he see an old woman with fat ankles and decides that she could help him by shouting for help and alerting the captain. Because she is neither deaf or blind and did not seem interested in winning the auction, Mr Botibol sees her as the perfect helper for his plan. He soon jumps off, yelling for help. The old woman does not understand what exactly was happening and does not sound the alarm. She is then lead back inside by Maggie, leaving Mr Botibol out at sea.

THEME

This story takes place in the 1950's. This is hinted in the line "Wouldn't that really be something, to see Ethel's face when he glided up to the door in a brand-new pale-green Lincoln convertible!" (Dahl 105-106). The location is in a boat out in sea.

The themes of this short story are desperation and greed. Mr Botibol's greed motivated him to participate in the auction while his desperation is evident throughut the piece. The lines "The purser looked at the anxious frowning face of Mr Botbol and smiled, knowing quite well what the man was driving at" (Dahl 104) and "He hadn't a hope now. One of the higher numbers was certain to win it after this. "Oh my God," he said aloud. "What shall I do?" What, for example would Ethel say?" (Dahl 108) shows how desperate he was to win the auction.

PERSONAL THOUGHTS

In my opinion, I think this is a really good short story because it can show readers that cheating can come with many bad consequences. I also really like the ct that this piece has an indeterminate ending. This is because it acts as kind of like a cliff hanger and leaves the readers curious about what happens next., The ending gives the readers room for interpretation. It seems to me that the reason the old woman with the fat ankles did not alert the others is due to the fact that sge may have a mental disability. The lines "The woman with the fat ankles turned to look at her..."A man dived overboard just now, with his clothes on"...I also think that the title of the story has a double meaning because it can refer to a body of water but also the ship's auction pool. This short story is really entertaining and is one of my favorites.

designed by Péter Puklus for Prezi

Presentation By: Jolie Lin