Dave Egger's The Circle

In Larry Lankton’s text, “Beyond the Boundaries” we gradually enter an unknown world that is frightening yet filled with immense beauty for miles. Due to the copper mining industry, a gradual increase of working class men and their families start to migrate to the unknown world with unsteady emotion, yet hope for a prosperous new life. In “Beyond the Boundaries”, Lankton takes us on a journey on how the “world below” transformed the upper peninsula into a functional and accepted new part of the world.

According to Elizabeth Lowell, “Some of us aren't meant to belong. Some of us have to turn the world upside down and shake the hell out of it until we make our own place in it.” Sometimes what every situation needs is an outsider to flip the script and create a new outlook on everything. In Shirley Jackson’s novel, “We Have Always Lived in the Castle,” the speaker, Merricat, is an outsider of society on many levels, such as mental health, gender, and that she is an upper class citizen in a poor area. Although Merricat is mentally unstable, her outsider’s perspective criticizes the social standard for women in the 1960s, indicating that social roles, marriage, and the patriarchy are not necessary aspects in life such as it is not necessary to have the same outlook on life as others.

Relegated to an underemployed underserved neighborhood by a combination of government policy and inaction, Lauren’s community is required to find a way to be self-sustainable despite lacking wealth and resources. Instead of submitting themselves to the abject poverty, they conceive of new ways to flourish given the few resources they do have, and with the guidance of religion to keep morale up. However, unlike in wealthy gated communities, Lauren’s primary objective is continued survival and perseverance. In her survival planning, she tells Joanne that they need to have a plan to “‘survive and rebuild’” (Butler, 55) so as to not end up impoverished on the streets of the world outside. Despite feeling unsafe and uneasy in their privatopia, she still seeks to recreate a similar community if she was to, as she says,“survive and rebuild” (Butler, 55). She cannot imagine an alternative to that type of living, merely aspiring to have a better, more sustainable version of her walled community. The wall separates Lauren and her psyche from the “pitiful, unwalled residential areas” (Butler, 10) not only physically but also cognitively. Her walled community does not encourage her to feel the pain of those on the outside as she would when empathizing with the members of her own community. It is easier to view the outside as other when physically separated by a wall; they are no longer

Former President John F. Kennedy said, “Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.” Leadership is a quality found in many characters of writer. In Neal Shusterman’s Unwind, Connor is a main character that found direction and became a great leader. Unwind is a story that takes place in future America. The unwinding process takes place from the ages of thirteen to eighteen. During this time, kids are able to be unwound and harvested for their body parts. Kids will not die but they will live in a divided state. Connor is one of the main characters in Unwind. From the moment Connor was introduced, he was a ticking time bomb that could explode at anytime. As the story progressed, however, he learned to control these emotions,

In his essay, “Navigating Genres”, Kerry Dirk describes rhetorical genres in funny layman’s terms which made me want to read more. Dirk states the obvious – that through everyday life, we are familiar with different rhetorical genres because we encounter and use them every day. We may not be conscious of it, but whenever we listen to a particular kind of song, or see a TV advertisement for a product we use, or hear a political commentator on the radio, we are being exposed to various rhetorical genres. When we see a horror flick, we are being exposed to another type. When we “post” on Facebook or Instagram, we are using a relatively new kind of genre which came about in response to the digital age.

Do you think fear can kill? “For the record, prejudices can kill and suspicion can destroy, and a thoughtless, frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all its own - for the children and the children yet unborn. And the pity of it is that these things cannot be confined to The Twilight Zone” (“Rod”). In 1959, one of the most popular television series was The Twilight Zone, wrote and produced by Rod Serling. The series includes many tales and adventures that are very thought provoking. The Twilight Zone highlights the tragedies during the 1950’s, specifically in the episode, “The Monsters are Due on Maple Street”. The Twilight Zone contains five seasons but only thirty-six of the episodes were during the 1950’s and 1960’s, and were based on fear and catastrophe. The later episodes of the 1960’s reflected the catastrophes in the 1950’s. In The Twilight Zone episode, “The Monsters are Due on Maple Street”, the events display tragedies of the 1950’s, like the Red Scare, McCarthyism, and the Space Race.

As kids we didn't know anything we were just learning our way, with the help of our parents they would always be there to help. But we don't really think about what if our parents could really get rid of us. In the novel unwind by Neal Shusterman, he portrays the power the government can have over us and how hurtful that can be to certain people. If we stop people from gaining too much power we can fix us as a society In the society of Unwind by Neal Shusterman, the government allows parents to make the choice to have their children. (99).

Trauma is an experience of such intensity, that it overwhelms the boundaries of the self. The intensity of trauma might indeed overwhelm psychological resources, fragmenting the idea of the ego and altering the ability to sense self, and distinguish reality from fragmented reality. From such trauma many issues may arise, including psychosis. Psychosis is characterised by an impaired relationship with reality and can be seen through a depressed mood, anxiety, suspiciousness or paranoia, withdrawal from family and friends, and hallucinations. Psychosis could mean a complete loss in being able to distinguish between truth and reality, and losing a sense of self. Literary works, through different literary elements can shape the meaning of

Greg Sestero wanted to be an actor. His French mother did not approve and took every opportunity to tell her son to persuade a different career. After molding in high school, Greg needed acting classes to be considered by agents in Los Angeles. The class he signed up for was led by Jean Shelton, who was terrifying. Ready to rip anyone apart, there was no pleasing Shelton with the skits they had to perform.

Queer Theory is the best approach by which to examine Angels in America because using Queer Theory allows us to see/ illuminates the difference between socially constructed gender and sexual acts based on sexual identity. Queer theory argues that gender is a cultural construct, that the social norms of men being masculine and women being feminine were manipulated as a culture to be seen as normal. In Angel in America, Roy Cohn is an attorney with power in his work place; he expresses a strong masculine character with “clout”, strong political power. He mentions that he is a powerful man and how with only a few phone calls he is able to get a hold of the president. These are expectations of how a masculine male is supposed to act, with power, confidence, and without fear. Being a man of politics, Roy lives up to the expectations of what society believes a strong man is supposed to be and how he is supposed to behave. When he goes to see his doctor and he is told that he has AIDS, Roy refuses to admit that he has AIDS and Homosexual. Roy tells his doctor, Henry, “You Think these are names that tell you who someone sleeps with, but they don’t tell you that.” (Pg. 51) He argues that his identity is not homosexual because they do not have “clout”; that he is a man of clout and has a lot of it. Roy states, “Homosexuals are men who know nobody and who nobody knows. Who have zero clout.”(Pg. 51) An example of Queer Theory, Roy tells his doctor that labels like Homosexual, Gay,

While extremely talented, Raven can definitely be killed as most people can. Shoot her in a way that she can't heal from and she's dead. Stab her and she can bleed. Her healing factor as advanced as others so it does take her some time to recover from near fatal wounds but not nearly as long as most people and it does cause a strain on her body. She also can't control her morphing ability when she is distracted or in a tremendous amount of pain. Knock her unconscious and her true form will reappear, a form she keeps as hidden as possible.

Places where people are left to be shut out, ignored from everywhere else because something is wrong with them or “they are setting a bad example for someone else.” For examples The hospitals where Esther stays, Buddy's hospital where he is sick, and the prison that Esther visits are all places where people are separated off from the rest of society because they are considered in some way dangerous. But these places are also similar to the other, "normal" places in the book, like Esther's mother's home or the hotel Esther stays at in new york. All of these places point to society's need to group and divide people. In the open Ironically like the prisons and the asylum she stayed in

"The Circle" is an American novel that was written by Dave Eggers and was published in the year 2013. It is a book of fiction and is the author’s tenth publication (Eggers 12). The novel is about a lady by the name Mae Holland who is employed by an internet company that is flourishing well and has high rewards. However, with time and as she continues to work there systems and things begin to fall apart and the success story begins to diminish (Eggers 19). The major theme of the book is the ability to handle and manage the right to independence and self governance of understanding and elucidation over a person’s life in the future (Eggers 49).

Some parts of the world are not as free as other parts of the world. People that are free don't think about that a lot. Lots of places don't have freedom of speech and freedom of religion and freedom of rights. That’s why there's the declaration of the rights of man. Imperialism and the enlightenment affect the world so much in history.

Dave Eggers wrote The Circle, a novel about the most powerful social media company in the world. This cult like company is run by one of the Three Wise Men, Eamon Bailey. He is responsible for shaping the culture and behavior that goes on within the circle. The company’s motto is “ALL THAT HAPPENS MUST BE KNOW.” (68) This then brings in the main character, Mae Holland. At the beginning of the story Mae lived private life and was a loving daughter who only wanted to support her family, but then rapidly changes into an obsessive, competitive, and self-absorbed character that people cannot stand. Mae Holland is manipulated into joining the Circle because of the amount of money she would receive while working there. Mae would not only be able to pay off her student debt because she was a college grad, she would also be able to pay for her ill father’s hospital bill by putting him on her health insurance that was through the Circle. In this paper I am going to demonstrate Mae’s transformation through her kayaking alone, Dream Friday (a circle meeting), and then transition to her turning transparent near the end of the novel.