The Circle

In the Great Room, Mae gives a presentation in front of a massive audience of Circlers. She is introducing SoulSearch, a program that uses online crowdsourcing to track down fugitives. For the demonstration, the computer randomly selects a criminal. It chooses an English woman, Fiona Highbridge, who is wanted for killing her children. Her photo and profile data are illuminated on the big screen, visible to over a billion people who are currently watching. Fiona has been on the run for a decade. However, after The Circle tasks the world with finding her, they track her down in 10 minutes.

Someone in the audience yells a request for them to conduct another search. Through Additional Guidance, Stenton tells Mae to go ahead but to choose a civilian instead of a fugitive. Mercer’s photo and information are posted on the screen. In rural Oregon, he is quickly located, and Circle followers arrive at his home. The world watches as Mercer jumps in his truck and flees. The mob follows him onto a mountain road, antagonizing him and even using drones that fly alongside his passenger window and film him. Through a drone camera, Mae mockingly tells him to stop and surrender to his friends. Vehicles continue to pursue him. Mercer then dies by suicide by driving his truck through a barrier and off a cliff.

A week has passed since Mercer’s death. Bailey checks in with Mae and comforts her. He tells her that Mercer was a “very disturbed, antisocial young man” (466). He insists that she was only trying to help him, telling her, “It’s like you were a doctor, coming to help a sick patient, and the patient, upon seeing this doctor, jumps out of the window” (467). Mae again feels the tear opening inside her. After Mercer’s death and Annie’s collapse, she feels increasingly alone. She acknowledges that the tear comes from “not knowing who would love her and for how long” (470). She believes that Mercer could have been saved “if he’d made his mind known, if he’d let Mae, and the rest of the world, in” (470).

She goes with Bailey to view the feeding of Stenton’s shark. At the aquarium, Bailey introduces her to the mysterious third Wise Man, Ty. She immediately realizes that Ty is Kalden. Ty acts as though they’ve never met, and Mae plays along. Stenton has arranged for the shark to be in the same tank as the other creatures he gathered from the Mariana Trench, which will provide “a realistic and holistic look at this world” (478). The shark ravenously devours the octopus, the seahorse, and the seahorse’s offspring. Stenton greatly enjoys watching this. Afterward, Ty discreetly hands Mae a note before leaving.

Per the instructions in Ty’s note, Mae pretends to go to the bathroom, at which point Ty disconnects her feed for 30 minutes. She knows it’s a mistake to do this, but Ty claims her life is at stake, and she still feels unsettled by the shark feeding. She also wonders if Ty’s instructions are part of some elaborate test that the Wise Men are conducting.

Mae meets Ty at the underground storage units. She yells at him for lying about his identity, and he apologizes but insists he had no choice. He tells her that Bailey and Stenton are the only others who know about his double identity. He has revealed himself to Mae because he believes she is the only one who can stop The Circle from taking tyrannical control of society. If she doesn’t stop The Circle, he claims, “There will be more Mercers” (486). He warns that The Circle, if not stopped now, will control “most of what anyone sees and knows” (487). Mae defends The Circle because it gives significance to people’s fleeting lives. Through The Circle, people have the opportunity to be remembered, which is what she wants for her own life. The encounter ends with Ty giving her a statement to read to her viewers. He tells her that, after she does this, they can run away together. Mae tells him that she now sees everything with clarity.

In Book 3, Mae sits next to Annie, who is comatose and hooked up to a respirator that generates a “rhythmic hush” (495). Annie collapsed at her desk, and though her prognosis is good, she remains unconscious. The doctor believes her collapse was caused “by stress, or shock, or simple exhaustion” (495). A monitor shows bursts of color illustrating her brain activity. Francis knocks on the glass and waves at Mae from the viewing area. She will see him at an event that night to celebrate a milestone: 10 million people are now transparent.

Instead of following Ty’s instructions, she informed Bailey and Stenton of his attempt to derail Completion. They allowed him to stay with The Circle but in an advisory role in a secluded office. Mae thinks excitedly about how Completion will bring an end to uncertainty. She watches the bursts of color coming from Annie’s brain and is frustrated that she doesn’t know Annie’s thoughts. She will approach Stenton and Bailey to discuss how they can figure out what Annie is thinking.