In Moral Disorder, the central character, Nell, makes a variety of difficult choices about whether to have a family, her relationship with a married man, and managing her relationship with the man's family after he leaves his wife and marries Nell. Margaret Atwood traces her growth by breaking down Nell's story into different short stories and presenting them to the reader in a non-chronological order.
Nell ultimately takes responsibility for her choices by caring for her family members, renting a house for Oona, and learning to adapt to Tig's children—even if she can't help but beat them at Monopoly. Despite her tendency to daydream and fantasize about other lives, Nell grows from the little girl who resented her mother's pregnancy and yearned for freedom to a woman who has strong social ties and sacrifices to meet the needs of those in her life.
Atwood presents the stories in an intriguing way. The book opens with Nell and Tig in the morning, elderly and contemplating the news. The next story focuses on Nell at 11. Atwood switches perspectives, times, and narrators to chart Nell's growth—showing that she's changed in many ways as she's gotten older. In this way, Atwood can show Nell's anxiety over the responsibilities of a family, her guilt over her parents' and sister's health problems, and the burden placed on her to care for so many, including the ex-wife of her husband.
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