59 pages • 1 hour read
Dave EggersThe Circle
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2013A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Summary
Background
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Character Analysis
Themes
Symbols & Motifs
Important Quotes
Essay Topics
Tools
BetaSymbols & Motifs
Sea Creatures
Stenton’s translucent shark symbolizes The Circle’s pursuit to become omnipotent. The shark’s innermost workings are visible, but this doesn’t stop it from devouring all that it encounters. Although it presents itself with transparency, it doesn’t face accountability. Of The Circle’s senior members, the shark most aligns with Stenton, who is a cutthroat capitalist with a Darwinian outlook.
The octopus also holds symbolic value because it “seem[s] to want to know everything: the shape of the glass, the topography of the coral below, the feel of the water all around” (311). This represents a more innocent, or naïve, perception of The Circle, as if it only wants knowledge for the sake of satiating curiosity.
Aside from the creatures that Stenton captures in the Mariana Trench, harbor seals also hold symbolic value. When Mae goes kayaking during times of introspection, she looks for seals. While on the water, she disconnects from social media, which typically provides her with an affirmation of her presence and worth, and she turns to the seals to provide her with recognition.
The Sculpture
There is a new sculpture on campus called “Reaching Through for the Good of Humankind.” The sculpture is “fourteen feet high, made of a thin and perfectly translucent form of plexiglass” (348). It features “a massive hand, as big as a car […] reaching out from, or through, a large rectangle, which most took to imply some sort of computer screen” (348).
While broadcasting, Mae struggles to recall the artist’s name. She interviews random Circlers about the statue’s meaning to them, and they associate it positively with The Circle’s mission. To them, it represents the use of technology to reach through to other people and connect over vast distances. Because of their insulated groupthink, it isn’t surprising that workers would associate the sculpture with The Circle’s perceived benefits to humanity. However, the sculpture also represents The Circle’s overreach into people’s personal lives; the hand reaching through a screen emphasizes The Circle’s invasion of privacy.
The Circle
As shapes, circles represent infinity and perfection. Bailey states, “A Circle is the strongest shape in the universe. Nothing can beat it, nothing can improve upon it, nothing can be more perfect. And that’s what we want to be: perfect” (289). As the company continues to grow, the objective is Completion, at which point The Circle will finally be closed, and perfect function will be achieved. Catalyzed by his perfectionism, Bailey is obsessed with this goal and influences Mae with his passion for obtaining it.
The Tear/Rip
Throughout the novel, Mae periodically feels a black tear within her. Its onset occurs during times of intellectual overstimulation or moments of unknowing. While fretting about Kalden’s absence, she analyzes her recurring internal tear, describing:
this black rip, this loud tear, within her, a few times a week. It didn’t usually last long, but when she closed her eyes she saw a tiny tear in what seemed to be black cloth, and through this tiny tear she heard the screams of millions of invisible souls (197).
Because she internally hears the cries of countless people, she cannot escape her constant connection to the masses, even during periods of introspection. The tear seems to open up from a tug of war between having too much and too little knowledge. This suggests that, as Mercer has argued, the human brain simply isn’t designed to deal with continual exposure to vast amounts of data. Her remedy for mollifying the tear is “to redouble her focus, to stay busy, to give more” (197). Rather than figure out how to cure the rip, Mae placates it by immersing herself in the very work that causes its periodic outbreak, thus perpetuating the cycle.
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