A Study on the Title of The Third Thing That Killed My Father Off

【Abstract】Dummy is a short novel written by Raymond Carver in his early novel collection， Furious Seasons and Other Stories（1977）. In his third novel collection， What We Talk About When We Talk About Love（1981）， Carver re-invented Dummy and made major changes to it. The title of the novel has been changed to The Third Thing That Killed My Father Off. This thesis focuses on Carvers short story， The Third Thing That Killed My Father Off， and analyzes the reason of its names change.

【Key words】Raymond Carver； Dummy The Third Thing That Killed My Father Off Title

【作者簡介】朱旭罡，華中科技大學。

I. Introduction

Raymond Carver（1938-1988） is a famous contemporary American short story writer and poet. His simple and plain language， objective narrative， known as the “father of minimalism”. He has been described by critics as “the most important novelist in the second half of the twentieth century” （Delaney 1930）. Carver has the habit of modifying published works. His several novels have several different versions and are included in different collections of novels. Dummy is a short novel written by Carver in his early novel collection， Furious Seasons and Other Stories（1977）. In his third novel collection， What We Talk About When We Talk About Love（1981）， Carver re-invented Dummy and made major changes to it. The title of the novel has been changed to The Third Thing That Killed My Father Off and some part of the original version has been revised.

The story is about a poor guy called Dummy， and the story of Dummy influenced the narrator and narrators father Del. The father of the narrator worked in a sawmill. He encouraged the cleaner colleague who called Dummy to buy fish raising in the pond behind the house. Since the raising the fish， Dummys behavior has undergone a complete change. He regarded fish as something more important than family and friendship. Then a flood destroyed his pond and washed away the fish. In addition， according to rumors， Dummys wife had some love affairs with another Mexican. At last， Dummy used a hammer to kill his wife， and then he jumped into the fish pond to suicide. At the end of the story， narrator said little about the death of Dummy and how the result influenced his father.

II. Character Analysis

1. The Characteristics of Narrators Father Del

The article begins with three things destroyed Del. “The third thing was Dummy， that Dummy died. The first thing was Pearl Harbor. And the second thing was moving to my grandfathers farm near Wenatchee.”（Carver 1981）

Pearl Harbor is not a matter of personal destruction of Del， but that generation of countless people. Del is undoubtedly one of these people. At that time all Americans feel that they are living in heaven， their country is better than anywhere. Suddenly one day， Pearl Harbor was attacked， and that generation of young peoples dreams will also come to naught. Huge sense of disillusionment destroyed their first line of defense.

Moving to his grandfathers farm illustrates the collapse of Dels second line of defense. American adults are to be a separate portal， and move back to their parents can only show that life is a failure - at least the failure on career.

From these two points we can easily see， Del is actually a life loser. His reason for getting close to Dummy was that Dummy was a loser as well as he was， and worse than he was. Dummy did worse job than Del and did not have a good family relationship. The more important thing is that Del get close with Dummy， that he could find a sense of superiority. When other peoples life is worse than his own， he felt happy， in order to escape the fact that he lives frustrated.

Del is as hypocritical as a stray dog. When Del faced his son， he “never kidded Dummy”. But when narrator is not present， he said to his colleague， “Youd reckon the fool was married to them fish， the way he acts.” （Carver 1981） Del in order to leave a good impression in front of his son， he also “signal Syd Glover with his eyes”， so the colleague did not say anything bad of Dummy. When he stood next to Dummy， he looks like a faithful friend， a reliable protector. Not only did he never make fun of Dummy， he even helped Dummy to find something to do - he provided Dummy with information about fish. However， when Dummy began to concentrate on feeding fish， Del thought Dummy was strange. Perhaps he felt a sense of fear： Dummy may no longer need him. Maybe this is the only man he knew who lived worse than him， no longer needed him.

The story also mentioned that Del had a gloating remark when he heard Dummy fishing ground broke down. “I sure do feel sorry for old Dummy， though， the poor devil brought it on himself. But you cant help but be troubled for him.” On the surface he was very concerned about his friends， but in fact he was a little schadenfreude. But in order not to let people see his hypocrisy， he put on a gentlemans appearance. Although del said he was sorry for Dummy， he went on to say that Dummys wife and a Mexican were sitting in the sportsmans club， “And that is not the half of it—”. We can see that Del did not seem to really worry about Dummy， but was looking at his jokes.（Mu 2014）

It is obvious that Del was a little man living in the bottom of society. He lived in general， but there is no hope of progress. He could only find pleasure in a man who was worse off than he lived. He is very hypocritical. What he said is one thing in the face but what he did is thing in the back. This kind of people lived a ruined life. And finally， he was killed off by the cruelty of life.

2. The Characteristic of Dummy

Dummy was a kind of people whose life is very poor. He had a very low income and disgraceful work. He was not good at handling interpersonal relationships. He had a bad relationship with his wife， which sometimes had improper relationship with other men.

It had a change in his life that Del told him to raise fish in his pond， from which he could get a large sum of money. Dummy thought the fish was more important than anything else. He wanted to change his fate through this opportunity， not to be the man under the society. However， the flood destroyed his dream， made his life as usual as before. He became hopeless and negative towards life. The love affair of his wife is the last straw that crushes the camel. When he facing the all ruined life that many things did not go well， he chose to end his life.

When Del saw Dummys body， he was really very sad. Because it may be the only one not as good as him dead. At that time， he felt in a great helplessness， so he find a reason for Dummys death casually， said that Dummys wife is to blame. However， this reason is not the slightest convincing. Dummys death was complicated， not just by his wife， but by the failure of his life.

Dummy is also a loser in life， even worse than Del. It is unfortunate that he wanted to change but he could not change. The difference between Dummy and Del is that Dummy is not so hypocritical， because he need not to be like that. When facing the trough of life， he chose to give up efforts to escape life. His life is a tragedy， and he is pathetic.

III. The Comparison of the Two Titles

Carver used to use Dummy， but he changed into The Third Thing That Killed My Father Off finally. It is clear to see the difference of this two titles. Dummy shows that the main character of this story is Dummy. The Third Thing That Killed My Father Off shows that it is a story about Del.

The two character is different in this story， but both of them were ordinary people who live in the bottom of the society. Using the title Dummy make the reader feel like its just a pathetic tragedy of a ordinary man. Using the title of The Third Thing That Killed My Father Off is more complicated. As Carver is the master of minimalism， the story need to be simplified and need to leaving some space for reader to imagine the story. So it is clear in the beginning of the story what is the writer really want to talk about.

“ Ill tell you what did my father in. The third thing was Dummy， that Dummy died. The first thing was Pearl Harbor. And the second thing was moving to my grandfathers farm near Wenatchee. Thats where my father finished out his days， except they were probably finished before that.”（Carver 1981）

Carver focused on the influence of narrators father Del， not on Dummy. He wanted to show the reader how Dummy this person influenced narrator and his father. Dummy is not only influenced Del and made him killed off， but also influenced narrator in his life time. From this title can also be seen， Dummy had a far-reaching impact on narrator in his early life time. Therefore， the title of The Third Thing That Killed My Father Off is simple for reader to catch the real meaning of this story and comprehend the minimalism style writing.

IV. Conclusion

Carvers writing of Minimalism can be seen by comparing the two titles of the same works in different periods. Different titles to the readers guidance will be different， which will affect the reader can really understand the authors writing intent.

In contrast to the different versions of the same article， the relationship among characters can be better understood， and authors writing style can be seen clearly. After the comparison can be concluded， the author modified version is better than the previous version.

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