Other Connections

Similar to Michaela's idea of this book being unrealistic, I wanted to make some of my own connections between the book and the real world. This idea of The Circle made me think about the idea of Google. Today, Google is one of the most advanced companies in the world. Whether it be the technology they use or the ideas they come up with for citizens, The Circle has very similar characteristics. The Circle is described as euphoric and futuristic right down to the walls of the buildings. I researched the Google center of operation in California and immediately began to see the similarities. On the first page of The Circle, Mae describes it as, "heaven" with a "spotless blue sky" then she goes on to talk about the drive in movie theatre and its eloquence. After looking at images of Google, they seemed to be almost identical in their design. 

Also I noticed not only physical similarities, but similar operation as well. Google offers on campus living and free technology to use for work while on campus. This is similar to The Circle in that Mae uses a small camera around her neck to record her every move in The Circle. I happen to have a neighbor who worked for Google for several years; remembering what he told me, he made it seem like Google wanted to almost control their employees lives by offering so many "cool" things and benefits. He told me that living on the Google campus was nothing like the real world because it was to euphoric and perfect all the time. This is a lot like The Circle in that they want to control their employees by recording everything they do while they're there and make it very difficult to leave once you're in. My Neighbor said that when he quit Google, he no longer knew the people he worked with because they were so tied up in it, they couldn't understand why he was quitting and therefore didn't like him. This connects back to the idea i said earlier how Mae (by succeeding in The Circle) is only driving herself deeper into the layers of Hell.