Sami 1 Julia Kaziewicz UNIV 111 10/24/14 Brainwashing Effect of Technology Dave Eggers s The Circle heavily discusses the negative impact that new age technology has on society and tries to warn one of the consequences. To go even further, Eggers uses the main characters Mae and Annie to express the brainwashing effect that technology and the Circle can have. The Circle is a company initially created to make life easier on the internet and in daily life. The company creates programs like TruYou which combines individuals online activity and information into one account for efficiency. The Circle also develops other programs that are meant to help society, but they help in a twisted way. ChildTrack is an example of this; When kids are young their parents have a chip implanted into their bone in order to track them and keep them safe. This is a good idea, except when the child gets older they have no privacy or freedom. This is another issue throughout The Circle, the issue of privacy and what is allowed to be private and what must be shared. The issue of privacy is prevalent in a book review written by Susannah Luthi for the LA Review of Books Brainwash, Condition, Repeat: Dave Eggers s The Circle. In her review Luthi explains the problem that new age technology is becoming. She asks her reader: Imagine a world where all dark, lurking thoughts of bad people are out in the open so that the light of communal knowledge will fade them to banality (Luthi, Brainwash, Condition, Repeat). This
2 addresses the subject of privacy, and how in The Circle nothing is private, everything is becoming transparent. ALL THAT HAPPENS MUST BE KNOWN (Eggers, 68). For example the SeeChange camera, this is a device that the Circle manufactured in order to be able to see where they normally could not. These cameras are the size of lollipops and anyone can buy them and put them up anywhere. One can then look at the video feeds live streaming not only of their cameras that they bought and put up, but also the cameras of others if they are public. Luthi believes strongly in the issues discussed in The Circle, but as a novel she says it is disappointing (Luthi, Brainwash, Condition, Repeat). She believes the plot is too easy, the writing is too simple, and the characters are flat. She goes on to say While lack of realistic depth in the characters of The Circle makes its plot possible, in the real world we are too violent, sad and volatile (Luthi, Brainwash, Condition, Repeat). Luthi is basically stating that the Circle could never happen and that is where the novel fails, however, the problems discussed throughout the novel do exist and that is why this book matters. Luthi definitely makes a strong argument and one will agree that all of the new technology can and will become a problem, however one may disagree with Luthi, and say that Eggers does a good job telling a story and having realistic characters. Eggers s main character, Mae, is very realistic in the way that she is easily manipulated by the awesomeness of the Circle. A million people, a billion, wanted to be where Mae was at this moment on her first day working for the only company that really mattered at all (Eggers, 3). Before she even begins to work at the Circle she already has a respect for the company and is willing to do anything to
3 work there. Once she gets the job and begins working, she is slowly swallowed up into the monopoly and utopian way of life. Mae feels like she owes something to the company since they have given her so much already, for example, medical insurance for her father who has MS. In opposition to Mae, her ex Mercer, has a completely different opinion about the Cand seems to be the voice of reason throughout the book. Here s the thing, and it s painful to say this to you. But you re not very interesting anymore. You sit at a desk twelve hours a day and you have nothing to show for it except for some numbers that won t exist or be remembered in a week. You re leaving no evidence that you lived. There s no proof (Eggers, 262). As Mae is slipping farther away from reality, Mercer sees right through the manipulation of the Circle and tries to explain to Mae what is happening and why the things they are doing are bad. Mae then responds to Mercer with You re such a fucker (Eggers, 262). Mae is avoiding the clear problem that Mercer is trying to show her. This is realistic because there are always people who will be on different sides of the spectrum no matter what the situation is. One can see Mae slowly conforming to the ways of the Circle, especially in book three. What was going on in that head of hers? It was exasperating, really, Mae thought, not knowing. It was an affront, a deprivation, to herself and to the world. She would bring this up with Stenton and Bailey, with the Gang of 40, at the earliest opportunity. (Eggers, 497) Here, even when her best friend Annie is in a coma, all Mae can think about is not knowing and how it is not fair to her or the rest of the world. She has completely lost touch with feeling and any sense of humanity.
4 Eggers has shown how a person, like Mae, can completely be changed into someone who has no more emotion or sense of reality. Mae became this person all through the negative brainwashing effect through the use of technology and monopolization.
5 Works Cited Luthi, Susannah. Brainwash, Condition, Repeat: Dave Eggers s The Circle The The Los Angeles Review of Books. N.p.,27 Nov. 2013.Web.09 Oct.2014. Eggers, Dave. The Circle: a novel. 2013. Print
6 Writers Memo: Do you view our society differently after reading and discussing The Circle in depth? Why or why not? I definitely do view society a little differently. Before reading and discussing The Circle, I always knew that technology was a big part of our lives and getting to be more part of our lives every day, but not to the extent that Eggers has shown us throughout his book. I now clearly see the negative effects that are potentially upcoming in our future, due to technological advances. Was this your first time practicing close reading? How might you apply close reading in your other classes? This was my first time close reading, in the way that we called it close reading. I am used to annotating books from IB English in high school so I already had an idea for close reading. I can apply close reading in my other classes to find and pick out key information in subjects such as Art History and Sociology. These notes and annotations that I take while close reading will help me study for the tests and remember important facts. Was it hard for you to pick one aspect of The Circle to write about? What was the most difficult part of writing this paper? I knew what I wanted to discuss in my paper about The Circle, because technology is a big issue in today s society and really can change people like it did to Mae in the book. The hardest part about writing this paper was getting started, I had too many vague points that I needed to narrow down and get across. I also had a hard time writing the conclusion and introduction, but after we went over those in class and the notes on blackboard, I felt more comfortable about intros and conclusions. Did you learn anything about your writing process while working on your paper? If yes, what did you learn? If no, why not? If I did learn about my writing process I don t really know what it was. I know my strengths and weaknesses for the most part. I need to work on quote analysis and I need to get better still at intros and conclusions. I also need to work on thesis statements, mostly because I am still not really clear when we need to use a thesis and what is supposed to be in a theses.
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8 Self- Assessment of Class Participation: I believe that throughout this unit I have been a good-outstanding contributor. I feel I have been more engaged than last unit and I have been to ever class this unit if I am not mistaken, whereas last unit I missed a few days here and there. I also tried to mix up my seating arrangement; one, so I could see the board better, and two so I could try and work with new people. I still gravitate to work with Emma since we worked together on our presentation, but when having class discussions I like to be engaged with different people and hear their ideas. I also feel I have contributed more too small group discussions and class discussions more than last unit.