About The Circle 

The Circle is the fourth novel of Dave Eggers, who is the author of many books, including The monk of Mokha, What is the What, The Lifters, and his most recent book, The Parade.

In this novel, Eggers describes a monopolistic internet company. 24-year- old Mae Holland starts to work at “the most influential company in the world” and is thrilled to be a part of the society. The company which is led by three “Wise Men,” demands transparency in all things; two of its many slogans are SECRETS ARE LIES and PRIVACY IS THEFT. Mae begins work in Customer Experience and quickly rises in her TruYou ranking, while her ex-boyfriend Mercer alerts her about its excessive technology-controlled society and losing her identity. 

At various points in the novel, Mae Holland goes kayaking. She loves to kayak because it provides her with some alone time in which she doesn’t have to think about her friends, her job, or her family. However, in the second half of the book, Mae doesn’t go kayaking at all. After Mae is caught illegally kayaking at night in this scene, she goes for being “transparent” and becomes world-famous.

Nature and Technology -hidden themes in the kayaking scene 

The Circle examines the theme of nature and technology. In this passage Mae’s life with technology is juxtaposed with her life in nature. At first glance depictions of technology are confining while depictions of nature are liberating. 

This scene is particularly important because it is a focal point in the story bridging the beginning-half of the story to the ending-half. However, Mae’s actions here are in the moment freeing, but end up sucking her deeper into the confines of the technological world. This seems to muddy Eggers’s themes, yet actually reveals a hidden motif. Nature and technology are one and the same thing. It is the true essence behind the actions that people take when in them that makes them bad or good.

This scene is actually foreshadowing what events are yet to come in the book. Just as Mae gets so immersed in her feelings about kayaking and anger that she makes dangerous decisions that could negatively affect those around her and has no feelings of regret as she does this in this scene, she also does the same in the technological world.

Movie VS. The Book

In the movie this scene is also very important and serves as a transition between the first half of the story and the second half. However, the scene is very different. In the book Mae finds the canoe left out and pattles all the way to an island then come back perfectly unharmed. In the movie she does not make it to the island. Her canoe capsizes and she almost drowns. What saves her life is a mini camera. This gives Mae more of a reason to become transparent than the book does. However, it also underdeveloped the theme of nature and technology.