A key aspect of Psychoanalytic Criticism (Theory) is the family. In Carson McCullers' short story "A Domestic Dilemma", we are placed within a nuclear family where Emily, the mother, is slipping into addiction (alcoholism). As the mother of a nuclear family, in 1950's America, her primary role in society is to be a good wife, mother, and homemaker. Some critics believe that Emily negates these responsibilities, and that as an alcoholic mother she could irrevocably psychology and emotionally damage her children, Andy and Marianne, as a result.\