Margaret Atwood- Moral Disorder

In the course of the many interrelated short stories written in Moral Disorder we tend to find out many thing about the main characters. In some ways the reader develops a sort of one on one relationship with each character, and learns more and more about them in each story. Specifically, one of the main characters who tends to stand out in the storyline as a person with a sort of mysterious personality is Tig. Tigs mysterious personality is brought to life mainly in the story “Monopoly”. When we first see Tig in the beginning of “monopoly”, he and Nell just purchased an old farm house where they plan on living.
As time progresses throughout the storyline, we learn about Tigs children and how they plan on visiting the new farm house. With this point it brings up thoughts about Tigs old marriage to Oona. We now find out that the reason why Tig and Oona divorced was not because of Oona, but the two of them as a hole. It gives insite to their failed marriage with the fact that OOna would give her total life’s attention at her writing, and leave Tig to take care of the children and the house completely alone.
Even though to the public eye Tig and Oona’s relationship could only be described as perfect, it is obvious that deep down being married to Oona was bringing him down. They were often seen together in magazines and in photo’s smiling as if they had not a care in the world, but according to Tig this was the furthest thing from the truth. The two of them together tried to show the sense of love and stability to the public that they both yearned for. They often appeared in magazines cooking and laughing together, but once the camera’s stopped rolling things turned back how they usually where.

Oona would be off trying to finish her book, and Tig would be left with taking care of the children and the household chores all while working at a radio station. As time progressed after the divorce Tig and Nell decided to rent an old farm house. We now find out about another mysterious part of Tig’s life, his kids. Once Tig and Nell moved into their farm house, Tig’s children came to visit every weekend. So, every weekend Nell would have to pack up all her belongings and leave their house before Tig’s children arrived.
Tig tried very hard in order to make his children know that the reason why he and their mother divorced was not because of Nell, and that he and Oona still were on speaking terms. This shed insight into Tig role as a father. Even though Tig usually doesn’t like to speak about his past marriage with Oona, he makes sure that his children are not affected by the divorce. Every weekend that they would visit, he would try and create a fun loving environment at the farm house in order for his children to be happy. Before this we never saw Tig as much of a family man.
Instances such as Tig’s children visiting shed light on a new personality that we never knew about Tig. After Tigs children leave, and Nell returns home things start to go back to normal. Nell and Tig seem to be extremely happy living together, which serves as a complete opposite to his relationship with Oona. Nell speaks about the Sunday nights they spend together once Tig’s children leave, and the time they spend trying to get up the big hill in front of the property during the winter months. Although the some of the things they did together were simple, it was obvious that it meant something to Nell.
Tig and Oona would sit together during the ride home in silence most of the time, but the silence they shared definitely meant something. During these times it became clear that the reason that Nell and Tig were together was because of Oona. Shortly after Oona finished her book, she and Tig invited Nell over for a dinner party at her house. The dinner party turned out a success, and Nell ended up staying later than all the other guests to play a game of monopoly with Tig’s children. The night was full of laughs and the conversation at the dinner table seemed as if it were to never end.
Nell later saw that that dinner party was not a typical dinner party, but more of an interview session that would later wide up with her being in a relationship with Tig. After awhile life for Nell and Tig started to grow into a sort of routine were Nell would stay at the farm house during the week, then suddenly disappear and hide all traces of her existence. But one weekend this was all about to change. Tig’s mysterious personality came into play again when he told Nell that he wanted her to stay at the farm house the upcoming weekend when his children came to visit.
This came as a complete shock to Nell because she never expected Tig to bring the situation up with her because he was always so quiet and to himself about the situation. Nevertheless Nell at first was extremely against this idea thinking that she would “be crossing the line”. But Tig assured her that it would be best for the children to see her in her natural environment and her home. Tig covertly spoke to his children and to Oona about the situation and they all agreed that it would be a good idea for Nell to stay a weekend with the children when they came to visit.