Dave Egger’s novel-length technology rant The Circle contains a lot of information, much more than necessary given the intellectual depth of the book. Most of this information overload takes the form of overly specific figures and numbers relating to Mae’s performance at the Circle. However, this also comes in the form of the various characters that seem to apparate into Mae’s periphery during her initial time at the Circle as a person working company relations. These relationships and interactions change as Mae’s integration and indoctrination by the Circle persists. With Mae being the protagonist of The Circle, these interactions come up very often, almost numbingly so in the beginning as her setup is created before her at her desk. A visual aid for these relationships can be used to help keep track of all the names Eggers has decided to inundate the reader with in order to make up for his lack of actual story.

(a) Before the events of The Circle, Mercer and Mae had already broken up.

(b) Francis was one of a cavalcade of Circle employees to help Mae get her Customer Experience office space set up. He also later made an attempt at making advances at Mae.

(c) All of the Circle employees later attended a presentation put on by Bailey. Ty was not mentioned.

(d) Francis later attempted to apologize for his advances and meddling in her life, much to Mae’s annoyance.

(e) Ty, under the alias of Kalden, set up communications with and later sexual rendezvous with Mae.

(f) Mercer and Mae still communicate through the course of the book, but find themselves further at odds as Mercer’s anti-technology sentiments grow.

(g) After Mae’s incident with the Kayak, Bailey spins this into his SeeChange project by having Mae be the first Circler to go transparent. He remains close at hand for the remainder of the novel due to his input on Mae’s actions and daily goings-on.

(h) Mercer’s sentiments are brought to a head as Mae puts his artwork on stage for the world to see. He becomes more reclusive, completely cutting himself off from the digital world.

(i) Kalden and Mae have another sexual encounter, but as Kalden is attempting to convince Mae of the Circle’s possible evil intent, Mae is attempting to surmise of Kalden is a spy of some kind.

The most pivotal relationship detailed in this timeline is without a doubt Mae’s relationship with Kalden, otherwise known as Tyler Alexander Gospodinov, the technological founder of the Circle and one of the Three Wisemen. Each of the Wisemen interacts with Mae at some point in the book, but Ty’s dual identity contributes to having a much closer relationship with Mae than an executive would otherwise have with one of their underlings. As Kalden, Ty contributes to Mae’s development as a person. He occupies much of her thoughts upon encountering her, and aside from that ends up contributing to what one could call a sexual awakening for Mae. While the implications of a CTO having a sexual relationship with a PR representative is dubious at best, the obliviousness of Mae to this fact means that Mae’s character develops rather than recedes in fear. Beyond this particular aspect of their relationship, after Ty reveals himself to be Kalden, he attempts to bring Mae out of the steady spiral of indoctrination she became subject to under the watchful influence of Eamon Bailey, the public face of the Circle. This ends up contributing to something instead called the backfire effect, in which Mae goes whole-hog into the new ‘infocommunist’ totalitarian future presented by the Circle, but this is still a very significant marker in Mae’s character caused by Ty.