Intimacy and Privacy are two of the concepts that have been explored in the The Circle, or perhaps to be more specific, the lack of the privacy which causes issues in terms of intimacy. As the genenral motto of the Circle is  “All that happens will be known”, we can already see the issue that could arise due to this lack of any kind of seclusion from the world. It is quite evident from the beginning, as Annie’s tells Francis’ stpry to her, that there was no much respect for privacy; however as Francis shakes this off, it is also seen that this lack of privacy had been accepted as part of the Circle, however it seemingly reduces the intimacy between Francis and Mae, as seen on page 87. Instead of having a conversation about themselves, they talk about a new division of the Circle. Thus, the lack of privacy in the community has caused a loss of closeness between them, since they already know mostly about each other from someone else. Francis’ behaviour in general is noted as “strange and unfiltered” by Mae on page 127, thus showing how their intimacy was being impacted by the lack of any kind of personal space. However, we see that there is no lack of intimacy, as Mae kisses him continually, out of sheer adoration.

A vivid example of violation of privacy is the LuvLuv application which helps an iser gain complete information of someone else. As FRAncis goes up and reveals information about Mae, we see her react quite astoundingly a sshe is quite repulsed by the open revelation of her information. We see as the intimacy begins to recede as she is extremely angry at Francis, also fearful of the accuracy of the information and also worried that it wasn’t accurate enough.Later in the novel, the lack of privacy is replaced with a man who appears quite mysterious and in unavailable on any of the Circle records. Here, the intimacy between him and Mae is quite accurately presented since both of them are quite unaware of each other, yet experienced an exceedingly strong attraction. We now see Mae’s dissatisfaction due to the fact that he had such a secretive background as  opposed to her dissatisfaction with Francis’s incessant need to overshare.

We see Mae’s growing frustration as she is unable to locate Kalden, as she continues to have sexual fantasies of him while also blaming him for not being available anywhere online. We see on page 197, as she yearns to eliminate the uncertainty, the same which had added intimacy to her life. It is quite astounding how the engigmatic nature of a man drew Maw towards him. She even resorts to looking for him on LuvLUv but is extremely disappointed because she’s unable to do so.  Thus, she resorts to forcing herself to think that she needed someone who could be “known” and “located”, ie Francis. Thus, although Mae yearns for knowledge, she doesn’t realise that true intimacy lay in knowing a person physically and not through online sources, Thus, the relationship between inti,cay and privacy is quite inverse, since too much information eradicates the act of being intimate.