Unhealthy Father-Daughter Relationship in A Rose for Emily

This annotated bibliography explores the complex and unhealthy relationship between Emily Grierson and her father in William Faulkner's short story, "A Rose for Emily." The assignment begins with an issue statement, research question, and the student's position, arguing that the relationship is detrimental due to the father's authoritative role. The bibliography includes three scholarly sources analyzing the story's themes of patriarchy, societal expectations, and psychological impacts. The first source examines the influence of patriarchy and religion on Emily's character. The second source provides a Jungian analysis of Emily's tragic life and the father's role in isolating her. The final source discusses the tabloid-like portrayal of Emily and her Oedipal attachment to her father. Each entry includes a summary of the source's content and its relevance to the research question, followed by the works cited.

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Annotated Bibliography- A Rose for Emily
Issue Statement:
Emily, the protagonist in William Faulkner’s story “A Rose for Emily” is one of the most
debated characters in the literary world. She is not only judged constantly by the society around
her in the story but also by the literary scholars and intellectuals over the years. The character of
Emily is shaped by the patriarchy society, religion and her relationship with her father.
Research Question: What makes the relationship between Emily and her father unhealthy and
why it cannot be seen as an ideal and loving father-daughter relationship?
My Position: While the society looks at Emily and her father as a perfect father and daughter,
they share an unhealthy relationship because of the final authoritative figure of the father in
daughter’s life. Miss Emily upholds the family’s honor by being pure and obedient.
Reflecting on the Project:
It was interesting to research on the topic of father-daughter relationship in William Faulkner’s
story “A Rose for Emily”. However, it was a bit challenging to look for the precise information
on the relationship between Emily and her father as most of the paper do not fully review the
research question and focused more on the psychiatric issues within Emily and the traditional
Southern community around her. It was a bit difficult to locate research material that was
relevant to the discussion and provided adequate support for the assertions made in the research
paper. It was essential to stay on the research question and avoid collecting any material that will
take one away from that. I tried to find everything I could on the topic and after careful study and

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inspection, I chose three articles to be used for the research and included them in the
bibliography.
Annotated Bibliography
Muslija, Amila. “All Eyes on Miss Emily.” School of Languages and Literature/English,
vol. 1, no. 1, 2012, p. 1-31
Amila Muslija is a faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Linnaeus University
and her work shows that she has a strong understanding of the patriarchy, religion and its
influence on society. In the article, she investigates Southern society in America during the 19th
century and 20th century, looking for signs of patriarchy, and its influence. Patriarchy, religion,
and expectations play an essential role in in the story “A Rose for Emily,” and shape Emily’s
character. As the essay discusses the relationship between Emily and her father, it can provide
useful content for discussion on the topic. The author analyzes the protagonist Miss Emily and
her relationships within the patriarchal and sexist society. I believe the information given here
will help support the research question and will further explain the relationship between Emily
and her father.
Chenghsun Hsu, and Ya-huei Wang. “The Fall of Emily Grierson: A Jungian Analysis of A
Rose for Emily.” ISSN, vol. 16, no. 2, Dec. 2014, pp. 87–92.
This journal” The Fall of Emily Grierson: A Jungian Analysis of A Rose for Emily” is
published by The Institute of Research & Community Outreach and is supported by Directorate
General of Higher Education. Republic of Indonesia. The authors Hsu, Chenghsun and Wang,
Ya-huei have published several papers for the Department of Applied Foreign Languages in
Chung Shan Medical University. Their article provides useful material to support discussions on

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the tragic life of Emily Grierson and her relationship with her father. It reflects her traditional
Southern life dominated by patriarchal social values. The authors claim that the key to the
tragedy in her life lies with her father who isolates Emily form the world around her and keeps
her confined within old-fashioned social values and patriarchal responsibilities. The article will
be useful for providing well-researched information on Emily and how her personality gets
shaped by her father.
Sniderman, Stephen, L. The Tabloidization of Emily. Gale, 2007. EBSCOhost,
The author, Stephen Sniderman has looked at the whole story, as a prosecution case and
shares both viewpoints in his article Stephen goes on to mention how the townspeople, the
rumors and stories create a tabloid effect that ruins the lives of the characters. Sniderman uses
the rhetorical strategies of tabloid journalism to establish the guilt of Emily. Overall, this paper
is recommended as it discusses Emily’s Oedipal attachment to her father and how she seems to
have incorporated her father's brutality in herself. The article provides useful insight into the
character of Emily and her father who is a tyrannical Southern patriarch. The article is very well
presented and depicts the psychological impacts of a controlling parent on the child. The author
gives a reality check top the reader on the relationship between Emily and her father. I feel that
this source should be reliable as it presents various social and psychological experiences suffered
by Emily because of her father and this is why her relationship with her father is not a normal
one.

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Works Cited
Chenghsun Hsu, and Ya-huei Wang. “The Fall of Emily Grierson: A Jungian Analysis of A Rose
for Emily.” ISSN, vol. 16, no. 2, Dec. 2014, pp. 87–92.
Muslija, Amila. “All Eyes on Miss Emily.” School of Languages and Literature/English, vol. 1,
no. 1, 2012, p. 1-31.
Sniderman, Stephen, L. The Tabloidization of Emily. Gale, 2007. EBSCOhost.