Epigraphs are like little appetizers to the great entrée of a story. They illuminate important aspects of the story, and they get us headed in the right direction.
You may have come across John Steinbeck's East of Eden in an American lit course, but don't feel worried if you haven't. Shmoop is here to tell you why Dave Eggers gives a shout-out to old Johnny S. as The Circle gets underway.
The passage that Eggers lifts from East of Eden captures the spirit of the times in California's Salinas Valley as the Valley's residents move excitedly from the 19th century to the 20th. Industrialization, urbanization, and modernization are finally making their way to America's Western fringe, and the Valley's residents think jubilantly of coming technological marvels like the railroad, steam-powered water pumps, sewers, indoor plumbing, indoor toilets, telephones, and streetlights lining the roads. Utopia is on its way, or so the Valley's residents think.
By giving a nod to the way that Steinbeck represents the past in East of Eden, Eggers draws a clear parallel between the turn-of-the-century excitement in East of Eden's Salinas Valley and turn-of-the-millennium excitement in another valley not too far from Salinas: Silicon Valley.
We know what kinds of destruction unbridled industrialization and urbanization brought the 20th century. What does the technological revolution of the 21st century hold in store?