I was wondering what you all thought about Mae's ex-boyfriend, Mercer. What does he represent in Mae's life? It is evident that Mae feels obligated to be civil with this man- the person she despises the most, only because he is still a huge part of Mae's parents' lives. He cares for her parents a lot, and Mae appreciates that- but whenever they interact at Mae's parents' house, the two of them butt heads. Mercer is a complete opposite of Mae- he owns a business that makes chandeliers out of deer antlers, while Mae is a rising star at the most technologically advanced company in the world. Mercer hates social media, and can barely operate his company's website. Mercer always criticizes Mae constantly about how wrapped up she is in her job. He hates the idea of "posts" and all this talk of "transparency."
Mercer quotes to Mae:
"Every time I see or hear from you, it’s through a filter. You send me links, you quote someone talking to me, you say you saw a picture of me on someone’s wall…It’s always a third-party assault.”
"You sit at a desk twelve hours a day and you have nothing to show for it except some numbers that won't exist or be remembered in a week. You're leaving no evidence you lived. There's no proof."
"I mean, all this stuff you're involved in, it's all gossip. It's people talking about each other behind their backs. That's the vast majority of this social media, all these reviews, all these comments. Your tools have elevated gossip, hearsay and conjecture to the level of valid, mainstream communication. And besides that, it's fucking dorky."
"It’s not that I’m not social. I’m social enough. But the tools you guys create actually manufacture unnaturally extreme social needs. No one needs the level of contact you’re purveying. It improves nothing. It’s not nourishing. It’s like snack food. You know how they engineer this food? They scientifically determine precisely how much salt and fat they need to include to keep you eating. You’re not hungry, you don’t need the food, it does nothing for you, but you keep eating these empty calories. This is what you’re pushing. Same thing. Endless empty calories, but the digital-social equivalent. And you calibrate it so it’s equally addictive."
Clearly, Mercer is against The Circle and everything it stands for. As the main antagonist in Mae's life, is he just a grouchy, old-fashioned person who is only against Mae to upset her? Or does he represent the truth? A voice of reason?
Michaela, Mercer's character also stuck out to me. I think Mercer was supposed to represent Mae's own conscience that she left behind when she started to work at The Circle. Mae being the Dante or the every man of the story loses herself completely once she delves into the company. However, Mercer being her ex-boyfriend is a part of her past that we are able to see. He speaks many truths within his several rant like speeches throughout the novel. Yes, he does represent an old-fashioned stance on technology and social networking but he says things that the reader can easily agree with and take into account. I think Eggers had him say these things because often people brush off and discount people today who fight against growing technologies and networking. However, their voice might just be the thing that keeps a company like The Circle from becoming a reality in our world.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the post.
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