The Circle Theme of Visions of America

Sure, The Circle may be set in a pretty specific geographical and cultural region of America—the San Francisco Bay Area—but the novel is about a whole lot more than just Silicon Valley.

Check it out. There's a telling moment in The Circle when Mercer Medeiros expresses his disgust at the world that Mae Holland and her fellow Circlers are helping to create, and at "the unrestrained Manifest Destiny of it all" (2.9.42). Those words should set off your Significance Sensors, folks.

The concept of manifest destiny expresses the belief that by continuing to extend the reach of their power and control, Americans are proving that it was always their God-given destiny to do so. (If you wanna dig deeper into the historical origins of the term, check out the discussion in our "Manifest Destiny & Mexican-American War" unit.)

Historically, the concept of manifest destiny placed special significance on California—it being the westernmost edge of the continent and all—and you can bet that Eggers has that in mind. But beyond that, what Eggers is saying is that there's something particularly American about the Circle's all-encompassing ideologies. While early Americans wanted to bring the whole continent under their cultivation and control, Circlers like Mae Holland won't be satisfied until they've gained the whole world.

The Circle doesn't give us a very flattering vision of America, but it's a vision nonetheless.

1. What specific aspects of the Circle's practices and ambitions does Mercer Medeiros associate with the concept of manifest destiny?
2. In The Circle, Mae Holland and her fellow Circlers believe that they're going to solve longstanding problems in America's democratic system. How do they plan to do it?
3. Although The Circle doesn't approve of the methods that Mae Holland and her fellow Circlers want to use to solve longstanding problems in America, the novel doesn't suggest that those problems aren't real. What social problems does The Circle single out for special attention?

Although The Circle spends a lot of time telling us why certain "solutions" won't solve America's problems, it doesn't show us what we should do instead.

Dave Eggers suggests that America's high-tech cultures are contemporary versions of the concept of manifest destiny; we haven't learned from the past.