As I continue reading The Circle, I become more creeped out by everything that's going on in the novel. I knew that when I started reading this, I would get a 1984 feeling. A huge incorporation that is increasingly become a part of everyone's daily lives? Yep, sounds like a Big Brother situation to me. However, I had no idea when I started reading that I would be looking through the eyes of one of the most devoted followers of the company. From what I've gathered, the Circle's goal is to make everyone and everything reachable and tangible; nothing and no one is hidden from the world. As I read further, I notice that is also Mae's new goal.
From the moment I started reading the book, I always thought Mae seemed pretty insecure. She was very shy during her first day on the job and wanted to do whatever she had to do to fit in at The Circle. It didn't ever really seem like she stopped doing whatever she had to do to fit in, either. That point was made abundantly clear at the end of Book I when she agreed to go transparent. Mae's entire life would change after she went trasnparent. There would be no more privacy for Mae virtually ever. She would be totally exposed to the world at all times, which is exactly what The Circle wanted. She was playing right into their dirty little games. Going transparent was definitely satisfying The Circle and made her fit in more. When she was on stage when they announced she was going transparent, everyone went wildly crazy. It's almost as if Mae is doing all of this stuff to validate herself and make herself seem worthwile; if she does what The Circle wants her to do, everyone will love her, no matter if that means doing something morally wrong.
Mae's perpetual role as a Circle ambassador coincides with going transparent. Becoming an ambassador is just another way to give The Circle what it wants, and of course Mae is eager to do it. She would get to represent the company she loves so much (the one she gave her life to, quite literally). This would only increase her popularity in The Circle and therefore make her seem more desirable, at least in the eyes of everyone else at The Circle, and really, that's all that mattered. The more involved Mae could become with The Circle, the better she felt. It seems like Mae is almost addicted to getting involved, like she gets a sort of high from it. I don't know if I'm fully convinced that Mae started out doing all of this for the love of The Circle, but I think that as time went on, The Circle virtually brainwashed Mae, quite like Big Brother did to Winston Smith in 1984. As Mae lost more of herself, she became more engrossed in The Circle and was more willing to do whatever The Circle wanted.
I think Mae shows just how bad it can get when you become addicted to social media. I agree that she completely compromised her personality (if she even had one to begin with haha) in order to fit in at the Circle
ReplyDelete"As I continue reading The Circle, I become more creeped out by everything that's going on in the novel."- Yo, tell me about it. This book gets creepier with every page turn.
ReplyDeleteReally great job with this post. I think the observation about Mae's insecurity is a really accurate one, and the instances you bring up where Mae is affected by that insecurity are solid and provide good evidence. Well done!