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Essay / Love Themes in Iris Murdoch's "Under The Net"
Start the conversation by asking Hugo "Did she (Anna) love you?" the scene ends with an unexpected twist when it is revealed that Hugo has actually been in love with Sadie all along. “The impossibility of Hugo loving Sadie weighed on me in an inexpressible way,” Jake thinks when he hears Hugo’s story. As for why Hugo would prefer Sadie, he says, "Sadie is smarter!" » which surprises Jake. “Anna loves you,” Jake tells Hugo, to which Hugo responds, “She’s as crazy about me as I am about Sadie.” Finally, the confusion ends with Hugo's sentence: "I love Sadie, who loves you, and you love Anna, who loves me." Perverse, isn't it? In this scene, love essentially gives truth and a sense of enlightenment to Jake. It also shows how love can often be deceptive on the outside, as was the case for Jake with Anna, Hugo and