Internal Destruction

As The Circle goes on to explain Mae's life at the Circle and the progress it is making towards completion, we see that Mae is like a ticking time bomb: she will eventually explode. We see that Mae's mind is deteriorating from the inside-out due to all of the Circle's interests in transparency. This is evident in her presentation of SoulSearch.

The presentation of SoulSearch was Mae's first presentation. Although she expected to have a great, unexpected turn out, the presentation was in fact unexpected but not so much great. The purpose of SoulSearch is obvious in its' title; it is a tool that is used to find anyone through facial recognition and the help of millions of viewers who are willing to help with the search. Mae successfully tested out the tool so find a fugitive, but the next person she tested was not so successful. Her second soul being searched as Mercer. Previously, Mercer had sent a letter to Mae stating that he was going off the grid to be hidden from the Circle and it's tools to find people. Mae took advantage of her presentation and decided she would find Mercer with the use of SoulSearch. In doing so, Mae bluntly disrespected Mercer's wishes to not be found. She displayed a narcissistic attitude being that she was only focused on looking good in front of the Circle family. However, along with wanting to look good, she wanted to seek revenge on Mercer for his comments on the Circles' actions, forgetting that this could have a huge effect on Mercer.

It is evident that the Circle has completely taken over Mae's mind and not for her own good. Throughout the presentation, Mae eventually found Mercer despite his attempts to disappear, but she did not receive the reaction she thought she would get. Mercer was furious and outraged by Mae's actions. She had disregarded any advice he had given. Some of which included "Please tell her she should cease her participation in that experiment, which I assure you and her will end badly" (Eggers 434) in reference to Annie's PastPerfect project and "We are not meant to know everything" (Eggers 434). It seemed as though Mae had no intention of reevaluating her actions and, at the least, taking to moment to think, "what if Mercer is right"? After realizing Mercer was not the least bit interested in anything Mae was doing, Mae, along with hundreds of other viewers, continued to harass Mercer into giving up and "surrendering". Mae was blinded by the positive reactions of her viewers to see that Mercer was in the process of committing absurd behaviors, resulting in his death.

The result of Mae's actions was the death of someone who, even though she refused to admit, she still cared about. Often times we get entwined with our wants and desires that we forget the impact it can have on others. Mae's internal destruction was a direct effect of her work at the Circle and to heighten the severity of it, this destruction has not yet been completed.

All Eyes on You

Following Mae's kayaking incident, Eamon Bailey decided to make it an example of why SeeChange is such a great idea. Eamon discussed with Mae how she would share her experience with kayaking and the consequences she faced from poor judgement. In front of almost all circlers, Mae developed three phrases that would follow her all throughout her career at the circle: Secrets are lies, privacy is theft, and sharing is caring. It was during this presentation that Mae's transparency was inevitable and she was not given the option to express her true feelings towards it.

Mae was now expected to wear the SeeChange device every day, all day until 10pm; where SeeChange was optional. She was one of two people that participated in SeeChange at the circle. People from all around the world would now she what Mae did everyday. They would see what she ate, where she went, and who she spoke to. Essentially, everything that was in Mae's vision was now visual to anyone who who wanted to see. I think transparency at a whole is depriving of one's own right to privacy. With SeeChange, a person is not given the right to do anything they desire to do privately. Privacy is a part of being human. A person's life is not meant to be shared with everyone; it is a privilege that needs to be earned. In the story, Mae says that "She relished being where she was, visible like this, a conduit like this, a guide to her watchers, but this responsibility, this unnecessary intrigue, it crippled her" (Eggers 326). With SeeChange comes a great deal of responsibility that can eventually become too overwhelming. At this moment for Mae, after she had received a message from Kalden, it became so overwhelming that she had no idea what to do. The responsibility of always worrying about people other than herself took a toll on how Mae lived he life.

Going transparent was virtually destroying Mae from the inside out. A person is supposed to live their  life without worrying about being judged or questioned. In today's society, people who are afraid of being judged do things they do not want to do or do not do things they enjoy. For example, Mae had "..done without things she didn't want to want. Things she didn't need. She'd given up up soda, energy drinks, processed foods" (Eggers 331). Although the things Mae had given up may not have been good for her heath wise, if she enjoyed them, then she should not let what other people think affect how she lives. Transparency gives people an even bigger opportunity to be judgmental towards one another. The irony in that is that people are using SeeChange as another set of eyes but also as a means of getting to know somebody. However, that can't occur if the person is not being true to who they are. One of my favorite quotes is "let whoever think what ever, just keep getting better" - Anonymous.

A personal life and a work life are meant to be separate from each other. Often times when the two get mixed up, complications arise. Transparency for Mae will, in the end, destroy her.