“From his trip to the Marianas Trench… Stenton had retrieved heretofore unknown jellyfish, seahorses, manta rays, all of them near-translucent, ethereal in their movements” (309).

This transparent, delicate beauty that was newly discovered from the dark unknown is a manifestation of the Circle’s Utopian quest to unite the world through transparency of life broadcast-ed through evolutionary social media and technology. Each of the three creatures, octopus, seahorse, and shark, represent various elements of the Circle’s push for transparency. The octopus represents the curiosity that drives the push for transparency and revolutionary technology, the seahorse represents the fragility and vulnerability that transparency and technology creates in society, while the shark embodies the destructive element of technology and transparency.

The octopus, it moves at incredible speeds, like the rise of new inventions and technology. Its fluctuating size shows the inconstant, changing status of social media and technology. When the octopus seeks out to experience everything about the tank: “the shape of the glass, the topography of the coral reef below, the feel of the water all around,” that is a direct metaphor for the desire of the Circle to know everything and to experience everything through the internet (311).

The seahorse illustrates the gap in those on board with technology and those who are removed: “But despite his fragility, somehow he had already reproduced, had given life to a hundred more like himself… he was apart from his progeny, as if having no clue where they came from, and no interest in what happened to them” (316). The delicate balance in society between the push for progress in the name of transparency where the circle is the progeny while there remains the few who live back, like Mercer, and have no interest in being involved with the technology the Circle is introducing is the seahorse.

With the shark, information and news is devoured by viewers and the transparent community. But soon that exciting, news is rapidly spit out, dull, uninteresting and forgotten. The rapid intake in dismissal of news shows the fickleness of society that is being produced from the technology produced by the Circle. Additionally, the shark embodies the destructive, almost cruel nature, of the culture surrounding transparency. When the lobster and fish were previously fed to the shark, everyone was just interested but when the Pacific sea turtle was fed to the shark, there was an outcry rooted in empathy and personal connection with the turtle. “Its eyes had beheld the predator below, and was now, with the slow energy it could harness, pushing its way to the back of the container. Feeding this kindly creature to the shark, no matter the necessity or scientific benefit, would not please many of Mae’s watchers”(319). The human element, of intelligence and emotion of the turtle reflect how the transparent technology of the Circle, or the shark, will devour and reduce to ash such a vital human trait. The cruelty of feeding a creature that can recognize the peril its in and show fear, to satisfy the shark displays the heartlessness and how removed human empathy can be when looking at life through the transparent Circle and a screen.

These mysterious and ethereal creatures display how the Circle’s push for total transparency is too Utopian and not necessarily what is best for the future of society.