A Dip in the Pool story
William Botibol, a man on a cruise ship, takes part in a bet to predict how far the ship will travel in twenty-four hours. He calculates that he will win if the ship is delayed a little - if, for instance, it has to turn back to collect a man overboard. In order to win by cheating, he waits until he and a woman are alone on the deck and then he pretends to fall overboard. Unfortunately for him, the woman is not what he thinks she is. Directed by: Michael Tuchner. Story by: Roald Dahl.
9 total · 6 major · 3 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| desperation | major | William became increasingly desperate to recoup his gambling losses to the point where he jumped overboard in an ill-advised bid to reverse his fortunes. |
| facing financial ruin | major | Botibol gambled away his last $1000. |
| gambling | major | Botibol gambled away his last $1000. The transatlantic cruise goers were amusing themselves on the voyage by taking part in a betting pool on how many miles the ship would travel each day. |
| husband and wife | major | William Botibol thought incessantly about his wife Ethel. |
| taking a high-stakes wager vs. walking away | major | Botibol gambled away his last $1000 in an ill-considered bet. |
| what it is like on a passenger liner | major | The story is set on a transatlantic voyage from the United States to Europe. |
| despair | minor | The gloating man suggested Botibol despaired over having lost his last $1000 in an ill-considered bet until such time as he came up with an even more ill-considered scheme to reverse his fortunes. |
| ironic twist of fate | minor | Botibol had carefully arranged things so that when he jumped overboard he would be saved by the screams of a nearby woman. By an ironic twist of fate, the woman in question was intellectually disabled (sic) and neither cried out nor was believed later. Botibol was left to perish at sea. |
| suicide | minor | The gloating man suggested Botibol might be about to jump overboard in despair. |