Flannery O'Conner, winner of the National Book Award for fiction, was an important author of Southern Gothic short stories whose works deal with the protagonist, usually suffering from deformity or disability, was faced with a challenge of faith and a conflict of intelligence. Although both challenge and conflict are found in all of his works, however it is very evident in Good Country People and The Lame Shall Enter First. O'Conner uses relationships between characters and minor characters who are broken prophets to generate and create each story. Hulga, or Joy as her mother calls her, is the protagonist of Good Country People. Being an atheist, with a doctorate in philosophy and a wooden leg, she is the outcast of her family, the dull diamond in Mrs. Hopewell's life and mind because she believes Hulga will never live up to her expectations. When a Bible salesman named Manley Pointer visits the house, he woos Hulga's heart so much that she agrees to meet him the following day for a walk in the lush fields of rural Georgia. Believing Pointer to be a good Christian man, she goes with him to a secluded barn where they begin to feel comfortable. After many minutes of persuasion, Hulga removes her wooden leg, along with her glasses, which she cannot, nor can she walk on. Strangely taking his briefcase with him, he recovers a hollowed-out Bible containing condoms, papers and a bottle of whisky. Then, suddenly, he grabs her wooden leg and runs away, telling her that his name is not Manley Pointer, he collects prosthetics, and that he is an atheist, similar to Hulga/Joy. This moment in the story is her revelation, and for her it represents not only the fact that people have more flaws than they are ap... middle of paper... finds her mother. Although Rufus is well cared for, he is constantly accused of robbery; however, the Sheppard provides him with an alibi for every crime. Ultimately, after consecutive charges and the personal knowledge that he is "evil" and going to Hell, Rufus is arrested without a solid alibi provided by Sheppard. When he returns home, the Sheppard discovers that his son has committed suicide to get closer to his mother, the absent but involved parent in Norton's life. Flannery O'Conner, a woman with lupus and a Southern Gothic writer, wrote 31 stories in which each protagonist fights his own battle between intelligence and faith. The concept is developed conceptually within the two texts Good Country People and The Lame Shall Enter First through the use of relationships between characters and the idea of ​​broken prophets.