In the novel “The Circle” by Dave Eggers, Mae Holland is a fictional character created to show how easily influenced people can be especially when it comes to the internet and social media. Mae is a young woman that has just graduated college and doesn’t really know where she is going to fit into the world. She has a friend from college named Annie that has worked for a company called the Circle and is willing to give Mae the recommendation she needs to begin her new journey at this new and thriving new company.
Mae arrives at The Circle with the expectation of doing her job then being off and being able to do as she pleases, however she quickly learns that’s not the case. During her first few weeks at the Circle she attended an event for all the employees and excelled quickly stating “I’ve averaged 97 so far,” she said. “They say that’s a record for a newbie.” (Eggers) Already breaking records as a newbie is a great accomplishment for Mae and she is thrilled to be excelling so quickly at work. However, one day Mae’s father who suffers
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Mae has a sexual interaction and quickly realizes that interaction is accessible to anyone who may want to see it. When reading this you can feel the panic that sets in once she thinks about all the potential people that could watch her do something she always meant to be private. The Circle has just the answer for this though, they tell her that once everyone becomes transparent these things will mean less and less to the public. The only reason people are uncomfortable with seeing such things is because society has always told us it was wrong to do in front of others and that it was a private matter between two people but if everyone could see anyone do it at any time, it would simply become less appealing. Although this made Mae uncomfortable it did convince her that it was not as big of a deal as she may have made it out to