It is both eerie and interesting how similar the descriptions in the novel, The Circle, coincide with features present in the world in which we live today. As I was reading, I found that Mae, being a new employee, was given a tour and a brief run-down on how things worked at the Circle (4-6, 15-30), and that was much like how we, as new Penn Staters, are subjected to tours and lectures throughout our first few days here about the school’s expectations of us during our four years of collegiate education.
Also, Annie serves as the older, experienced guide who shows Mae the ropes and actually gives the tours (15-30), which correlates to any one of us as students who become involved in a mentoring program, who has an older sibling who also goes to school here, or who has been taken under the wing of an upperclassman. To extend that idea, Mae also gets paired with Josiah and Denise, who basically are her mentors for the beginning processes of her employment with the Circle (29). They help Mae become accustomed to her new workplace, and answer any questions she has, just as here at Penn State, teams and resources are available nearly 24/7 for any question a student might ask.
I found it interesting that the red cobblestones were engraved with inspirational words such as “Participate”, “Find Community”, and “Innovate” (1-2), which are ideals that are highly promoted at Penn State. I have heard the phrase, “Get involved,” more times that I can count since my arrival here, which, I’ll admit, was a little overwhelming due to the massive size of the population and the many opportunities for involvement.
One last thought concerning The Circle and its correlations to the Penn State lifestyle: Self-containment. In the book, there are literally courts, fields, buildings, groups, etc., for every possible interest which serves as the Circle’s effort to provide the most comfortable, productive atmosphere for their workers and to make those workers never want to leave. In a similar way, Penn State offers countless opportunities for community involvement, from clubs, to sports, to support groups, to restaurants, etc. However, in The Circle, while social interaction is basically required of its employees, here at Penn State, becoming involved is something to strive toward, but if one chooses to remain inactive in groups or clubs, there are no punishments for making that choice. Also, Penn State offers some of these great opportunities not only to its students, but also to the community of State College and alumni around the world. The ability to exercise our free will as to which activities to not become involved in, and yet still remain members of the Penn State Family is one very distinct difference between the lifestyle illustrated in the novel and that of Penn State University.
When I was writing my own post, I made many of the same connections that you did. I described the similarities between the inclusive environments, and also the mentors availiable to both Penn State students and Mae. A point that I left out that you mentioned was the self contained commnity. I did not realize the similarities between the wealth of different amenities that both Penn State and the Circle have to offer. Between all the different clubs, activities, and seperation from the outside world, it is very easy to get sucked into the lifestyle and forget about everything else. This type of exclusivity can be dangerous, and result in forms of brainwashing. At Penn State, it is a good type of brainwashing, which results in school pride, civic responsibility for the community and even fanaticism at sporting events. In the Circle, however, the brainwashing takes a darker turn, and results in the entire company beliving that they are in the right and beleive other outside opions to be uninformed. I beleive that you made a really well formed, and informative blog post.