Final answer:
Flannery O'Connor's characters often exhibit problematic viewpoints towards social issues, highlighted through her Southern gothic stories. 'A Good Man is Hard to Find' explores these themes through a family’s encounter with a serial killer, while 'Good Country People' contrasts a philosopher's intellectual arrogance with a bible salesman's deceit.
Step-by-step explanation:
O'Connor's characters are known for their problematic viewpoints towards various social issues, including race, disability, and the nature of evil. Flannery O'Connor's use of Southern gothic settings and dark humor often illuminates the flawed perspectives of her characters, such as in her famous works 'A Good Man is Hard to Find' and 'Good Country People'. In these stories, characters grapple with their moral compasses, twisted by societal norms and personal insecurities. 'A Good Man is Hard to Find' details a family's fatal encounter with a troubled serial killer, while in 'Good Country People', a philosophy Ph.D. named Joy-Hulga faces a deceptive bible salesman.
These narratives reveal O'Connor's fascination with topics such as Orthodox Catholicism, the mother-daughter relationship, and life in the South. Her fiction critically examines the complexities of human nature, often using unsettling scenarios to underscore the contrast between outward social conventions and the hidden, sometimes sinister, realities of her characters' psyches.