Although Charles attempts to follow a conventional path and avoid being influenced by "parties" (i.e. cliques advocating trendy sectarian views), he soon discovers that he is inclined towards Roman Catholicism.

Charles Reding arrives at Oxford University planning to follow the advice and example of his father, and to submit to the teachings of the Church of England without becoming involved in any factious parties.

"[11] Reding's intellectual development towards Roman Catholicism parallels (although it is not identical to) that of Newman himself, described in his 1864 autobiography Apologia Pro Vita Sua.

Loss and Gain was possibly the first novel set entirely within a university milieu[12] and Newman included numerous locally used colloquialisms to enhance the impression of everyday life.

[13] Charles' views develop during the course of daily life and in response to the fashions of Oxford at moment, expressing Newman's belief that all aspects of experience are interconnected.

[14] The novel has an essentially "dialogical structure" reminiscent of the dialogues of Plato,[10] consisting largely of intellectual conversations Charles has with various acquaintances on religious subjects such as Catholicism, the Thirty-nine Articles, the Athanasian Creed, and apostasy.

Newman wrote Loss and Gain as a response to From Oxford to Rome: And how it fared with some who lately made the journey, a novel by Miss Elizabeth Harris, originally published anonymously.

[7][19] Mrs. Humphry Ward referred to Loss and Gain, along with Sartor Resartus, The Nemesis of Faith, Alton Locke, and Marius the Epicurean, as one of the works "to which the future student of the nineteenth century will have to look for what is deepest, most intimate, and most real in its personal experience.".