The Protagonist Does Not Always Save People

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.