The Circle’s average users and lower level workers are just the victims of the corporation’s mighty power and domination. They simply accept the propaganda of greatness that transparency and interconnectivity promote which the esteemed and trustworthy bourgeoisie of the Circle present to them. Mae begins as one of those victims, simply enthralled with the idea of the Circle and naively accepting of her higher-ups’ expertise and apparent benevolence.

However, as the novel progresses and Mae rises through the ranks of the Circle, she becomes part of the issue and is the source of the company’s latest advancements and improprieties, or as The New York Times says: “the dull villain.”

Mae becomes the villain because she becomes the one directing the public to its downfall. Her followers’ relentless pursuit to find Mercer and get him to “surrender” (463) to “Submit to [them]! [and] Be [their] friend!” (465) drive him to commit suicide to avoid joining this technology-crazed cult. What further makes Mae a villain is how she turns her back to credible warnings about the Circle on multiple accounts, first with Mercer and her parents, then with Annie, and then finally with Ty/Kalden, perhaps the character best suited to talk about the Circle and its dangers. She distrusts the people in her life who are the closest to her because she is selfishly mesmerized with the idea of the Circle as well as the power and recognition that she gains from being such an active member. In Book III, Mae visits Annie in the hospital while she is unconscious. Instead of grieving or offering prayers, Mae sees this as an opportunity to continue to grow the Circle and share the most private forms of information with the world because it “deserved nothing less” (497). This instance that ends the novel captures the essence of Mae’s mental corruption and readers’ final perception of her. Her world now revolves around the Circle, without any regard for someone so close and so important to her, who ironically got her a job at the Circle.

After Mae’s meeting with Ty/Kalden, I was expecting her to see reality as it is. Eggers leads readers to believe that by having her say that she can “see everything clearly now” (491). Unfortunately, she doesn’t. Her version of seeing things clearly is so warped and the dramatic irony in the final pages of the novel demonstrates that with the disconnect existing between the readers and Mae.

There is no happy ending to The Circle. Mae goes to the ninth circle of Hell and not only experiences, but takes part in the worst forms of evil in her world. Unlike Dante though, she doesn’t ascend back enlightened. She instead remains there in that state of confusion without any hope to right her wrongs and reconcile her relationships.