Typically we are familiar with plot which the protagonist eventually saves others and becomes a hero. We are looking forward to a happy ending that the protagonist becomes better and repels the evil force. We expect that because we desire the fantasy to fulfill the pity of tragedy in our life. As society is advancing rapidly, the righteousness and hopefulness of the character are in great need to satisfy us with that the world would be bright and beautiful. However, Dave Eggers surprised us by depicting the main character, Mae, as a villain at the end of the book The Circle. As the New York Times argues, "Mae, then, is not a victim but a dull villain.", I consent with it because Mae has no longer sustained the ability to maintain humanity.
Ordinarily, Eggers developed the personal change of Mae through the novel. When Mae was in the Customer Experience. she was merely an innocent intern who strove to perform the best of herself in her work. With shallow knowledge of the meaning of the Circle, she did not embrace the idea of frequent interaction with others by social media. For example, she enjoyed go kayaking by herself just to spend time being alone. However, her belief altered as soon as she attained applaud for her sharing experience online and became recognizable everywhere. This situation aggravated severely after the death of Mercer and the collapse of Annie since Mae remained an ironically stable condition of the loss of two of her closest relations from her life before working at the Circle. That she was promoted to believe in the distorted concept of social media made her a victim, while her decision to not intervene in the progress of the Completion of the Circle made her "a dull villain".
When Mae discovered that Kalden has been Ty, one of the Three Wise Men, the entire time, she confronted him about his concealed identity. As Ty believed in that Mae had the influence to slow down the Completion by giving a message to her viewers, Mae protested that she wanted everything to be seen and known because she was brainwashed with the idea that transparency made people significant even after they die. Ty attempted to convince her by saying that there would be more people like Mercer if Mae did not prevent the Circle from being completed. She refused him because she gained identity and satisfaction through the Circle and was not prepared to give up all of these even though Mae had enough power to stop the Completion. Therefore her betrayal of Ty led to an unusual ending of the novel.
Instead of portraying a heroic character who is expected to rescue the tragic situation, Eggers crafts an immoral protagonist. The realistic world is becoming similar to the world in the Circle as generations rely on social media life constantly, and the majority of us are aware of this controversial environment. Technology benefits our life but does transmit our life into transparency. Moreover, another large segment of the population is trying to separate personal and public life and to find a balance between them. Eggers' description of the main character Mae as a villain is not only a shocking but also a warning to the readers that the protagonist does not always save people, yet characters in the real life can choose to make a change or not.
Friday, October 14, 2016
Thursday, October 6, 2016
Make Your Own Decision
Finally, Mae has eventually become transparent as a Circler. This did not surprise me at all. I has been waiting for this moment since Bailey asked her to share her experience with kayaking as an example of how SeeChange benefits her life. Wearing the tiny camera on her chest every day, Mae got used to her transparency in her life. In the mean time, the Circle was accelerating on the procedure of Completion, to complete the circle. However, I can't help myself wandering the utopia empire the Circle attempts to create, the world of transparency, is truly helping Circlers or even people outside achieve the perfect of themselves.
It has been convinced that living a life under the observation of public can improve our behavior since Bailey illustrated the usefulness of SeeChange. As one of the two participants in SeeChange, Mae was acquired to wear the camera every day at the Circle which as I recognized her daily life was not humane any more. "She did without. Every day she'd done without things she didn't want to want. Things she didn't need. She'd given up soda, energy drinks, processed foods"(331). Things she gave up may not have benefits to her health, but she also gave up the chance to enjoy her life. Life would be dull and plain if she had to consider others' opinions on her deeds every second in her life. Mae "selected a packet of almonds" instead of "a chilled brownie" because everyone else would see what she ate. It is our personal decision to choose what we want to eat, not what others want to see us eat. An immoderate life should be avoided, nevertheless, we should become better only for us, not for other individuals.
Mae's transparency amended her unhealthy habits, however eliminated her opportunities to make her individual choices. She was striving strenuously to maintain her image of a role model. This did not trigger her to be the genuine herself but to be the one that satisfies others' expectation. As the Circle was promoting the process of Completion, not only staffers were asked to enroll in the developments but also everyone outside the Circle. "With 90 percent of Washington transparent, and the remaining 10 percent wilting under the suspicion of their colleagues and constituents, the question bear down on them like an angry sun: What are you hiding?"(313) The 10 percent of people were not hiding any malevolent plans, instead, they were attempting to reserve their right to make their own decisions. Transparency departs people from living their own life, and even prevents the minority from keeping themselves.
The essence of SeeChange is that transparency brings out the best of ourselves in order to make us perfect and make the world perfect. What is the meaning of perfect? To my understanding it is the antonym of imperfect. Perfect and imperfect coexist just like moral and immoral, legal and illegal. The police is demanded by the society because of the crime; the protagonist is essential for a novel because of the antagonist; the truth is required because of false. The perfection exists because of imperfection. We should embrace the imperfection because the procedure of becoming perfect is the most meaningful part which is all about deciding what to do or not by ourselves. Therefore, we have to make our own decision in order to enjoy our life.
Thursday, September 22, 2016
"Leave Evidence That You Lived"
As technology plays a
more and more significant role in our life, we are sometimes confused with the
virtual world and the real life. Like Mae, our current life is closely
associated with internet. Can anyone live without their phones or laptops or
tablets? Apparently the answer is no. I assume the reason is the increasing
social pressure leads us to seek for personal fulfillment. We are picturing a
world where we could be supermen; however, this is definitely not the
reality.
The difference between a real and simulated world is that we
experience in the prior one. In the real world, we laugh when we like
something; we cry when we feel distressed; we hug when we meet someone we miss. In
contrast, we "no longer pick up on basic human communication
clues"(262) in the online community. We merely click
on the "like" button to express our feelings. I'm not presenting
harsh critics on the use of social media because the society is advancing
technologically, while our generation and the generation following us will
slowly put more emphasize on the simulated world. We barely talk to our friends or families,
showing direct face-to-face reactions; instead, we type down our thoughts by
thousands of emoji. We do not experience anymore.
Based on my illustration of the difference between two worlds, I think Mercer is correct when he asks Mae "do you realize how incredibly boring you've become". I totally agree that Mae can no longer distinguish between a real world and a simulated world. Mae stresses too much importance of her popularity in online society that she "sits at a desk twelve hours a day and [she has] nothing to show for it except for some numbers that won't exist or be remembered in a week"(262). She is not contributing values in her real life. Paradoxically, she "thinks she is at the center of things, and that makes [her] opinions more valuable" (262). There is no evidence in reality that reflects she is alive since she lives in the simulated world where she does everything according to some ridiculous statistics proving she was vigorous.
In our life, more and more people are living a life like Mae. I used to be addicted to the "fake world" as well. I once had over 500 contacts on my Wechat (a kind of social media used in China that is similar to Facebook) and I thought I was popular. I shared my days with them, and they liked my photos, and I commented on their daily lives; I felt that they were my true friends. Nevertheless, I met less than 100 of them every day and the rest of them I barely knew or even saw them just once. How innocent I was to consume I was social! Now as I deleted nearly half of my contacts online, I start to meet more people in life; I get more opportunities to know them, to actually hang out with them. I live my life and leave evidence that I lived.
Mae is confused with a simulated world and her real life because her duty in The Circle requires her living behind screes everyday. On the contrary, we can balance our life and take advantage of technology to connect with reality and live a vivid life.
Friday, September 16, 2016
The Times of an Information Explosion
There is no denying the fact that data and privacy are closely connected to each other as discussed in the book The Circle by Dave Eggers. It is also a popular topic which has caused a heated debate in nowadays society of an information explosion. Although it seems that sometimes data cooperates with privacy to conduct an efficient job, there are times when they work to an injurious situation by the following evidences provided.
People are often driven to believe that data is a collection of our privacy which contributes to better understanding to each other. It does have some seemingly profound advantages, in the same time there lies intrinsic harmful characteristics. For example, Alistair, a sensitive man, was upset that Mae was absent for the Portugal brunch he organized because he simply searched for a list of people who "had visited the country, took pictures or mentioned it in an email or whatever"(111). The data has shown that Mae had been to Lisbon with pictures online and the story would definitely go another way if Mae did love Portugal stuff. However, the data did not show her genuine feelings which led to a misunderstanding in her relationship with her colleagues. That the data cannot display our emotion is often not noticed by public, and accordingly, is unconsciously overlooked.
Data can be used to protect our privacy in a positive way, but it can also expose us into public with danger. The ChildTrack program that Francis is working on is about to use data to enhance the security of children by putting chips in their wrists. However, "then seven kids go mission one day...when they get to the chips, all seven tracking to some parking lot, they find them all in a paper bag, all bloody. Just the chips"(88). Those chips worked in favor of kids' safety and mollified parents' concerns at the beginning; whereas it led to a misery eventually. In this context, data is supposed to benefit our life but it ended up with positioning us in a "naked" and threatening situation.
People sometimes hold a misconception that privacy can be obtained through data therefore we are capable to acquaint with each other more rapidly. Do you think that knowing a person is a waste of time? If yes, you may like to type in the name of your date in the LuvLuv, then it would search everything he/she has ever posted and provide you with analysis of relevance of the information. Mae considered "having a matrix of preference presented as your essence, as the whole you...was some kind of mirror, but it was incomplete, distorted"(126). Mae's thoughts provide an adequate justification for my opinion. People should communicate directly to acquire the information they want, not merely by "reading" someone's data.
In short, from what I have discussed above, I would draw an conclusion that we should use data properly to protect or share our privacy. Only in this way can we balance between "private" and "public" in the times of an information explosion.
People are often driven to believe that data is a collection of our privacy which contributes to better understanding to each other. It does have some seemingly profound advantages, in the same time there lies intrinsic harmful characteristics. For example, Alistair, a sensitive man, was upset that Mae was absent for the Portugal brunch he organized because he simply searched for a list of people who "had visited the country, took pictures or mentioned it in an email or whatever"(111). The data has shown that Mae had been to Lisbon with pictures online and the story would definitely go another way if Mae did love Portugal stuff. However, the data did not show her genuine feelings which led to a misunderstanding in her relationship with her colleagues. That the data cannot display our emotion is often not noticed by public, and accordingly, is unconsciously overlooked.
Data can be used to protect our privacy in a positive way, but it can also expose us into public with danger. The ChildTrack program that Francis is working on is about to use data to enhance the security of children by putting chips in their wrists. However, "then seven kids go mission one day...when they get to the chips, all seven tracking to some parking lot, they find them all in a paper bag, all bloody. Just the chips"(88). Those chips worked in favor of kids' safety and mollified parents' concerns at the beginning; whereas it led to a misery eventually. In this context, data is supposed to benefit our life but it ended up with positioning us in a "naked" and threatening situation.
People sometimes hold a misconception that privacy can be obtained through data therefore we are capable to acquaint with each other more rapidly. Do you think that knowing a person is a waste of time? If yes, you may like to type in the name of your date in the LuvLuv, then it would search everything he/she has ever posted and provide you with analysis of relevance of the information. Mae considered "having a matrix of preference presented as your essence, as the whole you...was some kind of mirror, but it was incomplete, distorted"(126). Mae's thoughts provide an adequate justification for my opinion. People should communicate directly to acquire the information they want, not merely by "reading" someone's data.
In short, from what I have discussed above, I would draw an conclusion that we should use data properly to protect or share our privacy. Only in this way can we balance between "private" and "public" in the times of an information explosion.
Thursday, September 8, 2016
Circle Response #1 (Pg 1-71)
It is natural for human beings to learn how to get involved in a new community because we acquire the sense of belongings in our life. As a "newbie" to Penn State, I was fortunate enough to discover this sense of belongings by the third week at Penn State. Same for Mae, she has participated in her new environment successfully by her first Friday, severing "436 customers" and having "memorized the boilerplates"(Eggers 55). In general, Mae and I have shared some similar aspects in participating in our new environments.
On 1 April, I accepted the offer of admission of Penn State at University Park. I had chosen Penn State as my home for the next four years. My mother was so proud of me, just like how Mae's father is proud of Mae of being employed by The Circle. During the ISO (international student orientation) week, I was appreciate for my group leaders touring me around the campus, to the Pattee Library, to the Palmer Museum of Art, to every buildings where I am going to have classes. Mae receives the same help from those passionate people in The Circle, Annie, Dan, Josiah, Denise and a lot more people. With the incessant "We Are" chants roaring through my first week, the feeling of being part of the community becomes significantly strong. I felt the same as Mae thought after her tour around the company, "Mae knew that she never wanted to work—never wanted to be—anywhere else"(Eggers 31). The eagerness and the enthusiasm has reinforced my belief of being a Penn Stater.
Moreover, another aspect that Mae and I both share is the experience about the community's facilities and activities. The Circle has "180 rooms" for employees to rest after party and also shuttles ensure they arrive home safely. When facing a brand new surrounding, I naturally seek for anything that makes me feel comfortable of the way I used to live. Penn State provides shuttles for freshmen to buy bedding and room decorations, as well as each commons serves great foods, entertainments, and so on. With those supplement of life necessities, I gained a feeling of being home. Additionally, the club fair on HUB lawn gave me a sense of engagement, same as the dorm floor meeting and college meeting. I was willing to meet people who share the same interests or hold the same goal. All those facilities and activities make me integrate into the community with more ease.
Besides the same feeling of pride and being home, there comes the most ordinary and interesting part of being a "newbie"—being lost in the vast campus. I clearly remember my first day of school. If I walked without Google Map, I would be completely lost in this giant maze. Those buildings' names are difficult to remember, and even hard to read, such as "Sackett" "Boucke"(In fact, don't laugh, when I first heard this name, I was wandering how could a building be named as "Cookie"). I always carefully looked up the route to each building in case of lateness to classes, and it turned out I ironically got to classrooms plenty of time earlier. Walking across the campus, I can't help myself stopping for the charm of the architecture. Just as Mae was fascinated with that "the campus was vast and rambling, wild with Pacific color, and yet the smallest detail had been carefully considered, shaped by the most eloquent hands"(Eggers 1). Like every other freshmen, I usually walked with a face full of confusion for my first couple days.
Being involved in a community is always the primary thing people would do because human beings are social animals. We need to join in a community to attain the sense of affirmation. Both Mae and I have shared similarities in our experience, mine at Penn State and hers at The Circle. The concept of involvement reinforces the feeling of being welcome and united.
On 1 April, I accepted the offer of admission of Penn State at University Park. I had chosen Penn State as my home for the next four years. My mother was so proud of me, just like how Mae's father is proud of Mae of being employed by The Circle. During the ISO (international student orientation) week, I was appreciate for my group leaders touring me around the campus, to the Pattee Library, to the Palmer Museum of Art, to every buildings where I am going to have classes. Mae receives the same help from those passionate people in The Circle, Annie, Dan, Josiah, Denise and a lot more people. With the incessant "We Are" chants roaring through my first week, the feeling of being part of the community becomes significantly strong. I felt the same as Mae thought after her tour around the company, "Mae knew that she never wanted to work—never wanted to be—anywhere else"(Eggers 31). The eagerness and the enthusiasm has reinforced my belief of being a Penn Stater.
Moreover, another aspect that Mae and I both share is the experience about the community's facilities and activities. The Circle has "180 rooms" for employees to rest after party and also shuttles ensure they arrive home safely. When facing a brand new surrounding, I naturally seek for anything that makes me feel comfortable of the way I used to live. Penn State provides shuttles for freshmen to buy bedding and room decorations, as well as each commons serves great foods, entertainments, and so on. With those supplement of life necessities, I gained a feeling of being home. Additionally, the club fair on HUB lawn gave me a sense of engagement, same as the dorm floor meeting and college meeting. I was willing to meet people who share the same interests or hold the same goal. All those facilities and activities make me integrate into the community with more ease.
Besides the same feeling of pride and being home, there comes the most ordinary and interesting part of being a "newbie"—being lost in the vast campus. I clearly remember my first day of school. If I walked without Google Map, I would be completely lost in this giant maze. Those buildings' names are difficult to remember, and even hard to read, such as "Sackett" "Boucke"(In fact, don't laugh, when I first heard this name, I was wandering how could a building be named as "Cookie"). I always carefully looked up the route to each building in case of lateness to classes, and it turned out I ironically got to classrooms plenty of time earlier. Walking across the campus, I can't help myself stopping for the charm of the architecture. Just as Mae was fascinated with that "the campus was vast and rambling, wild with Pacific color, and yet the smallest detail had been carefully considered, shaped by the most eloquent hands"(Eggers 1). Like every other freshmen, I usually walked with a face full of confusion for my first couple days.
Being involved in a community is always the primary thing people would do because human beings are social animals. We need to join in a community to attain the sense of affirmation. Both Mae and I have shared similarities in our experience, mine at Penn State and hers at The Circle. The concept of involvement reinforces the feeling of being welcome and united.
Thursday, September 1, 2016
Passion Blog Topic
I am truly not good at blogging. First, I am anxious of writing something in my second language(even though I have been speaking English for almost six years); second, I am a poor story-teller. I think the principal reason is because I always get too enthusiastic when talking about my favorites or interests. Thus I usually end up with incoherent speeches. I am worried about my insufficient story-telling ability, however I am steadily confident about the topic I would like to discuss for my Passion Blog.
Into The Beauty of China
Given that I am originally from China, I am undoubtedly most acquainted with Chinese culture. Culture, a big word which seems like there is no way to begin, is in fact closely enrolled in our life. When travelling abroad, you are shocked by the unsatisfied taste of the food in a famous restaurant, that is culture. When everyone else around you is laughing at a joke yet you seem like an outsider and cannot get the point, that is also related to culture. Therefore, I would like to take you through the charms of Chinese culture step by step as I would break it into multiple sub-topics.
Initially, I prefer to start my blog with the most magnificent and traditional celebration——Chinese New Year. The significance of Chinese New Year to Chinese is the same as that of Christmas to Westerns. It is a time when families reunite and greet each other. It sounds like the same thing when people celebrate Christmas, nevertheless there are abundant diverse traditions (even different across all cities in China) about foods, greetings, decorations of houses, and so on. Chinese New Year is such a memorable and iconic event in China.
Moreover, I will provide you with a train of events or places of great importance in Chinese culture. If you are interested in architecture, I would love to illustrate a bunch of magnificent structures, narrating their histories, features, and fun facts.
Furthermore, I will showcase china(porcelain), calligraphy, antiques and so on. I will take you into the Mid-Autumn Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Tomb-sweeping Day, and a series of traditional festivals.
Culture is all about differences and reasons of people's behaviors. I became passionate about cultures when I started to learn foreign languages. I struggled to find the most precise word to translate ideas in another language. I learned that far from finding words that have the same meaning in another language, to translate accurately is to find words that bring out the sense and spirit of the original so that they are understood. This capability of interpretation acquires my deep understanding of the culture behind those combinations of characters. In conclusion, culture inspires me both in academics and in daily life and I am eager to share my passion through sentences with you.
In nowadays United Sates, I assume that the majority of people are familiar with understanding various cultures since from my perspective United States is such a multicultural country. I hope all of you would be fascinated with the culture of my origin. Besides, I would be so glad you could advise me any specific aspects about Chinese culture that attract your attention. I would write about them into details for your preference.
Into The Beauty of China
Given that I am originally from China, I am undoubtedly most acquainted with Chinese culture. Culture, a big word which seems like there is no way to begin, is in fact closely enrolled in our life. When travelling abroad, you are shocked by the unsatisfied taste of the food in a famous restaurant, that is culture. When everyone else around you is laughing at a joke yet you seem like an outsider and cannot get the point, that is also related to culture. Therefore, I would like to take you through the charms of Chinese culture step by step as I would break it into multiple sub-topics.
Initially, I prefer to start my blog with the most magnificent and traditional celebration——Chinese New Year. The significance of Chinese New Year to Chinese is the same as that of Christmas to Westerns. It is a time when families reunite and greet each other. It sounds like the same thing when people celebrate Christmas, nevertheless there are abundant diverse traditions (even different across all cities in China) about foods, greetings, decorations of houses, and so on. Chinese New Year is such a memorable and iconic event in China.
Ancient ways of celebrating
Moreover, I will provide you with a train of events or places of great importance in Chinese culture. If you are interested in architecture, I would love to illustrate a bunch of magnificent structures, narrating their histories, features, and fun facts.
Temple of Heaven
Dragon Boat Festival
Moon-cakes for Mid-Autumn Festival
Culture is all about differences and reasons of people's behaviors. I became passionate about cultures when I started to learn foreign languages. I struggled to find the most precise word to translate ideas in another language. I learned that far from finding words that have the same meaning in another language, to translate accurately is to find words that bring out the sense and spirit of the original so that they are understood. This capability of interpretation acquires my deep understanding of the culture behind those combinations of characters. In conclusion, culture inspires me both in academics and in daily life and I am eager to share my passion through sentences with you.
In nowadays United Sates, I assume that the majority of people are familiar with understanding various cultures since from my perspective United States is such a multicultural country. I hope all of you would be fascinated with the culture of my origin. Besides, I would be so glad you could advise me any specific aspects about Chinese culture that attract your attention. I would write about them into details for your preference.
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