Raymond Carver's short story "The Third Thing That Killed My Father Off" is a great insight into what materialistic values can do to a person. Carver uses a little boy's explanation of the third thing that killed his father to tell about the life of another gentleman. This gentleman goes from a place of constant put-downs, to a state of mind where he's in charge, then to a tragic death.
According to the narrator, this man's name is Dummy, at least that's what everyone calls him. Dummy works as a cleanup man at the Cascade Lumber Company in Yakima, Washington. He is a short, wrinkly, baldheaded man with a mouth full of rotting teeth. He suffers from a personal handicap. He is not deaf, but he can't talk. He is only capable of communicating through body language. He carries tools that he will never use: a flashlight (he works days), screwdrivers, pliers, wrenches, friction tape, and many other things that millwrights carry (but he's a cleanup man). These things bring on the ridicule from his co-workers. The only one who doesn't kid him is the narrator's father.
Dummy has a nice house and a wife. Outside his house there is a pond that has formed over the years. Perhaps this is what gives the narrator's father the idea to bring barrels of bass to the pond. These bass are responsible for changing Dummy's entire life. He builds a fence around his pasture and an electric one around his pond. He never lets people go over to his house anymore, including the narrator and his father. He even loses interest in his wife. For the first time, he has control over something of importance. It's as if these fish have given him a sense of self-worth. .
The winter snow causes the pond to flood and many of the fish wash away. Yet again, Dummy's life drastically changes. He gradually misses more and more work, which may eventually lead to him getting fired. One morning the narrator's father receives a phone call concerning Dummy.