“Morality, like art, means drawing a line someplace.”- Oscar Wilde
Compare and contrast the ways in which F Scott Fitzgerald and Ian McEwan present moral conflict within ‘The Great Gatsby’ and ‘Atonement’ paying due attention to other critical views and contextual factors. Conflicting moral judgement is a common theme in both novels, Atonement and The Great Gatsby, as shown by their protagonists. The Great Gatsby is set in New York during the early 1920’s before the Wall Street crash, not long after the first World War. Many of the American soldiers did not get home for a long time after the official end due to them helping to rebuild the rest of the world. As we learn Nick is long home from the war himself before moving in next door to Jay Gatsby on West Egg. Nick’s old friend Tom and cousin Daisy live across the body of water on East Egg, where the ‘old money’ lives. East and West Egg are based on the Great Neck and Port Washington peninsulas on Long Island. Tom and Daisy are married to each other however initiate intimate relations with other people. Daisy was in love with Jay Gatsby and Tom was having an affair with another married lady, Myrtle. From the first chapters of the book it is obvious that all the main characters have a lack of morals, as three of the characters are cheating on spouses, and the other two are helping Daisy to have an affair. Atonement is initially set in rural England in 1934 a few years before the beginning of the second World War. The