The Circle

After her success at the meeting, Mae and Francis take a train into the city. People recognize them and step into her camera’s view. Mae feels good, though she is increasingly isolated from people who have been close to her, including Annie, her parents, and Kalden. For now, she “care[s] only about this moment, this night, the sky clear and starless” (396).

Mae and Francis go to a bar and are repeatedly recognized. She has several drinks and takes pictures with fans. They go to a quieter establishment, where a drunk older man approaches them. He says he was once a divinity student but long ago deviated from that track. He hasn’t felt spiritual, but Mae’s talk earlier that day changed things. He tells her that she “connected it all” and “found a way to save all the souls” (398). He continues his monologue until they laugh at him and then apologize.

In her dorm, Mae wakes up next to Francis. There are over 300 messages on her phone from a blocked number. She knows it’s Kalden but ignores him.

At work, Mae receives massive praise, including from Bailey. The Circle has already started working on a prototype to implement her idea, which they are calling Demoxie. The beta version is tested on The Circle community. It sends out questions to Circlers and freezes their other messaging systems until they reply.

Mae finally takes a call from Kalden. He has again rigged the system so no one else can hear their conversation. Kalden insists that Demoxie is the last step toward the completion of The Circle, which will result in “the world’s first tyrannical monopoly” (404). He knows that the following day, she will be filming an important meeting, and while there is high viewership, he wants her to explain why The Circle should be broken up. Mae hangs up on him.

For the Demoxie trial, The Circle sends out a survey of five questions, the last one of which asks: “Is Mae Holland awesome or what?” (408). The results are immediately posted, and she sees that 97% of Circlers responded “yes” to that question. She is deeply bothered by the 3% who voted “no.” She does the math; this means that 368 Circlers don’t think she’s awesome. Increasingly, this crushes her, and she wonders about the identities of those who voted against her. She eventually equates their votes to a desire to kill her.

Mae runs into Annie, who excitedly shares that she will be the “pioneer” for PastPerfect. Though Mae expected a low-rung newbie to be picked for this job, she learns that Annie volunteered. They part ways, and Mae is jealous, assuming that Annie begged for this job so that she could hold a higher status than Mae. Mae feels that she should have been chosen for the job and that Annie’s higher socioeconomic lineage helped her land the position. Mae’s thoughts return to the survey vote, and she feels overwhelmed. To decompress, she goes to CE to handle queries and spends six hours there. Now feeling calm, she goes to Francis’s dorm and has sex with him. She hopes for a better experience, but he again finishes quickly.

In the wee hours of the morning, Mae awakens, still worrying about the vote. She wants to know who voted against her, and Francis says they can easily check, telling her that the whole thing with Demoxie is that it’s transparent. He pulls up the list but she decides she doesn’t want to know. She takes a shower, thinking about how Demoxie will indeed bring a purer form of democracy where “people will be unafraid to be held accountable for [their] votes” (419). Mae goes to an Aspirant session, where young entrepreneurs pitch ideas to senior Circlers. These presentations often lead to new Circlers being hired on the spot. Multiple Aspirants present ideas related to tracking people who are deemed at risk of committing a crime.

Mae returns to her desk and finds a note from Annie that requests a meeting in the bathroom, where they will not be recorded. Annie is upset because, through PastPerfect, it has been discovered that her family has a long history of enslaving others. This information is scheduled to go public the following day. Mae tries to reassure her that viewers will not chastise her for something done by her ancestors. When the news is released, Mae feels vindicated because Annie does not suffer wrath on behalf of her forebears.

Mae receives a letter from Mercer that is highly critical of The Circle’s pursuits. In it, he encourages Mae to talk Annie into quitting PastPerfect. He also tells her that he’ll be moving north, deep into the forest, to an area The Circle has not yet mapped. Mae and her audience find his letter laughable.

The following day, Annie again requests that Mae meet her in the bathroom. More damaging information has been uncovered about Annie’s family. Mae tries to comfort her but to no avail. Two days later, even worse information is found: Long ago, her parents were caught on a security camera watching a man drown without trying to help or reporting it to authorities. Annie sends out an uncharacteristic zing: “Actually, I don’t know if we should know everything” (439). Someone at The Circle amends the zing to say something that does not counter the company’s goals. Annie appears to be on the verge of a mental health crisis.

Mae decides to try to help Annie. To her viewers’ surprise, she that she and Annie just had an off-camera conversation, during which Annie revealed some troubling information about her family. She asks her viewers to send Annie their support, thinking that this will help to cheer her. However, the social media response is mixed, in part due to criticism of the legacy of slavery in Annie’s family.