The Circle by David Eggers is a brilliant update and combination of 1984 and A Brave New World. The story centers around Mae Holland and her journey in Circle, an internet/technology conglomeration that is quite creepy. At first, the company sounds like something useful, just another social media/networking/business website/company that is trying to reinvent the wheel (read: Facebook). But as the book progresses they are revealed to be ever more disturbing, proclaiming at the end of Book I: Privacy Is Theft. The book is presenting an utopian society where no one has anything to keep secret or anything they need to hide. If you have something you want to keep secret, or even private, then it is something that you are ashamed of.
For example, when Mae is filmed without her permission giving a man a hand job, she wants the man to delete the recording. But he refuses saying it is his property and that in the Circle nothing is every deleted. In fact, this video is available to anyone who has access to the cloud it is stored in, which is everyone. Although no one does view the tape, someone could if they wanted to. When Mae is asked why she would have anything to hide she brings up such indelicacies like sex, and is shot down. After all, everyone does it, why should it be a secret? This book shows the blurring lines between secret and privacy which are present even in our own culture. Think about how Facebook and Google are invading every single part of our internet experience. Similar to Homie in The Circle, Amazon has a service where you can install a small button and automatically order new supplies of basic household good when you notice you are running low. The future portrayed by Eggers is not that far off and Eggers shows us how dangerous this future really is.
Mae talks about a tear and through the tear are screaming voices. This tear is especially apparent to her when she is looking at something that portrays a very human connection, like when she is watching a live feed of a poor African family going about their day as she is falling asleep. Or when she experiences nature. Of course, she is chastised for her kayaking experiences because she is “off the grid.” She doesn’t post anything about the experiences, no pictures, no videos, no zings. And being off the grid is the worst thing she could possibly be. She has to be constantly involved in the social media/networking aspect of her job, it is more important than her actual work that she is being paid to do, or at least it seems that way. Circle is much more interested in tracking people than in anything else. She has to use the company store, the company doctor, go to all the company events. I can’t imagine being an introvert in this society. She even becomes a Settler, someone who is now living on the company campus. Everything about her life is completely managed and dictated by the Circle.
In contract to her is Mercer. He gets upset and offended when she posts things about him online without his permission. He reprimands her for never talking to him directly, but instead she always has to bring in a hundred other people in order to have a conversation ever. This is made even more relevant when she ‘goes clear’ or for most of her day wears a tiny camera around her neck to document her every movement, word, and action - including the ones of all the people around her, whether they want to be documented or not. She herself is a fan of this idea, believing that it will hold her accountable an make her a more honorable and noble person. But underneath that veneer she is screaming. She cannot do anything that will come across as being anything less than chipper, cheery, and happy or tens of thousands of people around the world will be immediately aware. And the little headpiece in her ear will let her know that what she is doing is not in line, although, of course, they would never reprimand her so directly. Everything at the Circle is about making sure you feel good about yourself.
In some senses, it is like a cult (something Mercer compares the circle to). In cults, new members are subjected to a practice known as lovebombing. The new member is surrounded by love, affirmation, attention, and devotion, but as soon as the member does something that cult doesn’t approve of, s/he is cut off from all that emotional deluge. After being so surrounded by affirmation, made to feel so incredibly good about yourself, no longer have that support system is devastating. So they of course immediately realign their behaviors in order to be accepted back into the cult. Similar things are happening with Mae. The reader might see her as being stupid, can’t she see what is going on around her? But the fact is, she can’t. She is literately incapable of seeing any of the practices of Circle as being anything but amazing and positive. She has drunk the Kool-Aid.