You need both class and gender consciousness to actually understand the theme of this story. You need to understand he’s not just “toxic” and it’s deeper than that. From the start he was an upper class male and he deliberately chose a poverty stricken girl to string along with the false hope of escapism through higher education and manipulated her into a relationship where she’s socially isolated, financially abused, and made codependent on him. He gaslights her on the daily, refuses her work and financial independence, slams her down everytime she tries to communicate, and uses his privilege and influence to manipulate public opinion on her to further trap her into this relationship. She can’t simply “get a job”, “communicate”, or “grow a back bone” when he’s taken all of these options in mind and made sure she doesnt have any chance to do any of those.
You need both class and gender consciousness to actually understand the theme of this story. You need to understand he’s not just “toxic” and it’s deeper than that. From the start he was an upper class male and he deliberately chose a poverty stricken girl to string along with the false hope of escapism through higher education and manipulated her into a relationship where she’s socially isolated, financially abused, and made codependent on him. He gaslights her on the daily, refuses her work and financial independence, slams her down everytime she tries to communicate, and uses his privilege and influence to manipulate public opinion on her to further trap her into this relationship. She can’t simply “get a job”, “communicate”, or “grow a back bone” when he’s taken all of these options in mind and made sure she doesnt have any chance to do any of those.