How we cite our quotes: (Book.Section.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"See, this opens up the possibility of visual surrogates. Imagine I'm bedridden, or too frail to explore the mountain myself. I send someone up with a camera around her neck, and I can experience it all in real time." (1.8.84)
Eamon Bailey believes that his SeeChange cameras will be freeing in lots of different ways: not only will they help to bring about social justice (as he imagines it), but they'll also be liberating to people who wouldn't ordinarily be able to see much of the world.
Quote #2
"Mae, think about a world where there could never again be a significant crime against a child. None possible. The second a kid's not where he's supposed to be, a massive alert goes off, and the kid can be tracked down immediately. Everyone can track her. All authorities know instantly she's missing, but they know exactly where she is. […] The only hope an abductor would have is to take a kid, run into the woods with her, do something and run off before the world descends upon him. But he would have about a minute and a half to do it." (1.11.58)
According to Francis Garaventa, technologies like the ChildTrack/TruYouth program will help to free people from fear. No longer will parents need to worry about their children's safety; instead, children will be free to roam their neighborhoods and act like kids again.
Quote #3
"So immediately you take all the child abduction, rape, murder, and you reduce it by 99 percent. And the price is that the kids have a chip in their ankle. You want a living kid with a chip in his ankle, a kid who you know will grow up safe, a kid who can again run down to the park, ride his bike to school, all that? […] or do you want a dead kid? Or years of worry every time your kid walks to the bus stop?" (1.11.60-62)
In exchange for the freedom that the Circle's ChildTrack/TruYouth program offers, only one small sacrifice will need to be made—according to Francis Garaventa, that is. In exchange for allowing a small chip to be planted inside their child's body, parents will be able to rest easy knowing that their children will be kept free from harm.
Quote #4
"Keep an eye on the InnerCircle feed in particular, because that's where you'll hear about staff meetings, mandatory gatherings, and any breaking news. If there's a Circle notice that's really pressing, that'll be marked in orange. Something extremely urgent will prompt a message on your phone, too. You keep that in view? […] So those are your priorities, with your fourth priority your own OuterCircle participation. Which is just as important as anything else, because we value your work-life balance, you know, the calibration between your online life here at the company and outside it." (1.12.87)
When Mae Holland first joins the Circle, she's impressed by how much the company seems to value the fact that its employees have lives outside their jobs. The Circle encourages its employees to feel free to be themselves and to explore and participate actively in the world around them, but there's just one catch: Circlers should never be so selfish as to keep any of their experiences to themselves. If they aren't actively sharing their lives with the company, they aren't being good community members. So, how free are they, really?
Quote #5
Mae was feeling dull-witted, her body reluctant to do anything but recline. She had been, she realized, on constant alert for a full week, and hadn't slept more than five hours on any given night. Simply sitting in her parents' dim living room, watching this basketball game, which meant nothing to her, all those ponytails and braids leaping, all that squeaking of sneakers, was restorative and sublime. (1.20.3)
However much the Circle claims to value its employees' work-life balance, the truth is that the company sucks people dry. After a full week at the Circle, Mae Holland finds it utterly freeing to sit around and do nothing for an afternoon. The Circle may tell its employees that they're free to choose the level of their own involvement on campus, but that's not really the case. As Mae discovers, Circlers have a lot less freedom than the company leads them to believe.
Quote #6
Mae called her parents, telling her mom first, then her dad, and there was some whooping, and there were tears, more praise for Annie as the savior of the family, and some very embarrassing talk about how Mae had become a real adult, how her parents were ashamed and humbled to be leaning on her, leaning so heavily on their young daughter in this way, it's just this messed-up system we're all stuck in, they said. But thank you, they said, we're so proud of you. (1.24.43)
Although Mae Holland believes that she's freed her parents from an enormous burden of worry by having them added to the Circle's medical plan, her parents soon realize that when freedom comes from the Circle, it comes with some heavy strings attached.
Quote #7
And there was a wonderful thing that tended to happen, something that felt like poetic justice: every time someone started shouting about the supposed monopoly of the Circle, or the Circle's unfair monetization of the personal data of its users, or some other paranoid and demonstrably false claim, soon enough it was revealed that that person was a criminal or deviant of the highest order. One was connected to a terror network in Iran. One was a buyer of child porn. (1.33.6)
Although Mae Holland doesn't realize it, the Circle is fully capable of acting as an oppressive force in the world. By destroying the lives of the people who speak out against it, the company puts very clear and very severe limitations on the kinds of speech and behavior that it considers acceptable.
Quote #8
"You think it's just a coincidence that every time some congresswoman or blogger talks about monopoly, they suddenly become ensnared in some terrible sex-porn-witchcraft controversy? For twenty years, the internet was capable of ruining anyone in minutes, but not until your Three Wise Men, or at least one of them, was anyone willing to do it. You're saying this is news to you?" (1.40.77)
When Mercer Medeiros confronts Mae Holland about the Circle's oppressive potential, she thinks he's just being paranoid. Why? In Mae's view, what basic rights, freedoms, and safeguards will help to prevent the Circle from turning into an oppressive force?
Quote #9
"And so what? You don't want Charmin to know how much of their toilet paper you're using? Is Charmin oppressing you in some significant way?"
"No, Mae, it's different. That would be easier to understand. Here, though, there are no oppressors. No one's forcing you to do this. You willingly tie yourself to these leashes." (1.40.81-82)
As Mercer Medeiros sees it, people like Mae Holland aren't just being confined by the Circle—they're stepping into the cages and turning the locks themselves.
Quote #10
"Governments who are transparent? Legislators who owe their reputations to the Circle? Who could be ruined the moment they speak out? What do you think happened to Williamson? Remember her? She threatens the Circle monopoly and, surprise, the feds find incriminating stuff on her computer. You think that's a coincidence? That's about the hundredth person Stenton's done that to. Mae, once the Circle's complete, that's it. And you helped complete it." (2.27.53)
Ty Gospodinov, alias Kalden, makes it clear to Mae Holland that Tom Stenton has been using the Circle's powers to destroy the company's opponents. Why isn't Mae fazed by this news? Why does she still believe that the Circle will be a liberating force for humankind?