The Circle Book I, Part 6 Summary & Analysis

Book I, Part 6

Summary: Book I, Part 6

Mae is furious with Mercer. She regrets dating him, thinking how “fat” and “unambitious” he is. On the way home, she stops at her favorite kayak place. The rental shop is closed, but Mae spots a kayak someone turned in after hours. Her conscience is on high alert since she’s being tracked all the time, she contemplates whether taking the kayak would be considered stealing. She takes the kayak anyway and heads for Blue Island, a rarely visited place. On the island, she walks along its jagged peaks, reveling in the fact that she’s in a place where not many people go. When Mae returns to the rental shop, she finds the police on shore. They explain that she’s been caught by two “SeeChange” cameras—one placed on the premises by Marion the shop owner’s son, Walt, and another one put there by a local citizen. Marion comes out of the shop, half-drunk, and when she realizes it’s her frequent customer Mae, she tells the police it’s been a mistake and to let Mae go.

Mae’s boss Dan calls Mae in the next morning saying the Circle has been notified that she was questioned by police. Horrified by her “lies and aversions,” he sends her to the office of Eamon Bailey, who has taken a special interest in the matter. Bailey sits Mae down and calmly asks her whether she would have taken the have kayak if she knew the SeeChange cameras watching her. Mae says no, she would not have. Bailey continues, asking whether secrets can ever be considered “good.” Mae pauses, knowing she’s keeping secrets from Annie about Kalden. Bailey then draws an analogy between world affairs and her incident with the kayak, to drive home his point that governments would probably behave better as well if they knew they were being monitored. He tells her he believes that “knowing everything” about a person’s every move can lead to a world of perfected human beings. Bailey asks her if she has anything to confess, and she breaks down, admitting she and Annie snuck into his office. He says he knows and forgives her. Later, at the weekly Dream Friday talk, Mae is invited to speak alongside Bailey and confess her incident with the kayak. She announces that she has agreed to go transparent for the company. Mae helps present three new slogans she created, with Bailey’s prompting: “Secrets Are Lies,” “Sharing Is Caring,” and “Privacy Is Theft.”

Analysis: Book I, Part 6

Here, readers find Mae back out on the kayak, where she usually goes to calm down and regain a sense of control. This time, however, she’s using a kayak she didn’t pay for as she arrived after hours. After weighing the pros and cons of using the kayak, she reasons that the owner Marion is no “rule-bound shrew,” and would likely have no problem with Mae borrowing the boat since she’s a regular customer. Now that she’s been exposed to the hyper-vigilant practices of the Circle, however, where everything is recorded and known, she wonders whether this would be considered “stealing.” Mae now sees herself as someone being constantly “watched,” which unbeknownst to her, she is, by two SeeChange cameras that have been installed on the rental premises. This scenario highlights how the human psyche can change under constant surveillance. One always feels like one is under constant judgment and categorizes one’s actions under terms of litigation. This is precisely Bailey’s and Stenton’s points when they try to push their SeeChange and transparency agendas. They argue that if people are constantly surveilled, they tend to act more ethically.

This feeling of being watched permeates even Mae’s interactions with the harbor seals. Each time she’s out on the water, she catches sight of them, and they lock eyes. This time, Mae looks at a seal wondering what interest it holds in her, and imagines it’s following her at times. This parallels Mae’s involvement in the Circle, where her life becomes more and more public. Her consciousness shifts from being an unknown to being a persona on a stage, even for animals. The world of the bay and the world of the Circle are merged at this moment, signifying a saturation point with media where one can never escape the confines of the online world mentally, even in nature.

Bailey takes a special interest in Mae after she’s caught “stealing” the kayak, and for the first time, readers see how manipulative and shrewd he is. Bailey takes advantage of Mae’s situation by leading her through a line of questions that play upon her sense of guilt. She’s become a perfect candidate to promote the idea of transparency taking place within the confines of the Circle walls. It would be one thing for the Wise Men to have their lives made public 24/7, and one can assume that they’d likely never participate in having their lives made public. Yet with Mae, they’ve found a perfect face for the campaign. She’s young, eager, and desperate for a sense of relevance, importance, and identity. Mae is easily swayed to the Wise Men’s goals.

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