The Circle: Book Two, part 3 Summary & Analysis

One week has passed since Mercer’s death. Since that time, Mae’s number of watchers has held steady—around 28 million. In the past week, Annie has “collapsed.” Mae meets with Bailey in his library, thinking that she needs to be strong and calm for the benefit of her watchers.

In the library, Bailey explains that Mae was trying to help “a very disturbed, antisocial young man.” He compares Mae to a doctor trying to help a sick patient who jumps out the window anyway. Bailey concludes that Mae “can hardly be blamed.” Mae thinks back to the funeral service for Mercer, during which she barely spoke to her parents. Bailey points out that Mercer wouldn’t have died if he’d been “in a self-driving vehicle.” Furthermore, Mercer must have been depressed because he was living in an isolated cabin in the woods. He concludes, “we’ve lost one of the world’s many, many people, which reminds us of both life’s preciousness and its abundance.” Mae nods. She remembers feeling a “tear” deep inside her after Mercer’s death—the tear of “not knowing.” She smiles: Bailey’s advice has calmed her.

Bailey asks Mae how Annie is doing, and Mae replies, “the same.” Then, Bailey walks Mae out of the library, saying that she and her watchers “could use some distraction.” They walk to the aquarium, where Stenton has combined all the animals he took from the Marianas trench into one tank (he’s fired Georgia due to “philosophical differences” and replaced her with a marine biologist who’s willing to feed unusual foods to Stenton’s sea creatures). By the tank, Bailey and Mae see Stenton surveying his work.

Stenton greets Mae and says, “I don’t think you’ve met Ty yet, have you, Mae?” Mae turns and gasps: Kalden is standing in front of her. Bailey and Stenton smile, thinking that Mae is star-struck. Mae pieces together what’s been happening: Ty has aged greatly in the past few years. The videos he sends in must have been recorded a long time ago. The other two Wise Men must not realize that Ty is pretending to be a nobody named Kalden. Kalden says nothing to Mae, but looks at her intently.

With the Three Wise Men assembled together, Mae’s watchers grow to 51 million. Following script, Mae explains that Stenton has assembled three majestic animals together in the aquarium: a shark, an octopus, and a seahorse. This is the first time, she continues, that the three animals are sharing the same space. Although Mae proceeds with her script, she feels almost nauseous—she can’t believe that Kalden is Ty.

Bailey points to the octopus, which is about to be introduced to the tank, and he notes that the octopus is “malleable and infinitely adaptable.” Before the octopus, however, the marine biologist introduces a group of seahorses into the tank. Mae notices that the “father” of the other seahorses doesn’t swim around the tank—instead, he hides himself away in the corner. Bailey laughs and says, “That is one shy fish.”

Next, the marine biologist introduces the octopus into the tank. The octopus floats around the tank, touching the seaweed and coral, wanting to know all, touch all.” Finally, the marine biologist prepares to introduce the shark into the tank. First, the biologist throws tuna fish into the water, “in case the shark is still hungry.” Bailey beams and says, “A peaceable kingdom.” He nods to the marine biologist, and the marine biologist lowers the shark into the tank. Mae has a suspicion that something horrible is going to happen. The shark swims around the tank, gobbling up tuna. Bailey says that he’d be worried, except that he trusts Stenton, “a man who knows what he’s doing.”

The shark swims toward the octopus and tears it apart. Bailey whimpers in sadness, but Stenton looks at the shark with “a mixture of fascination and pride.” Next, the shark eats the seahorse, followed by its thousands of babies. Then it eats the seaweed, the coral, and the anemones, until it’s the only thing left in the tank. Ty says, “that was about what I imagined would happen.” Quickly, while nobody is looking, he grabs Mae’s hand and places something in it; then, he walks away. Stenton nods and says, both to Mae and to her hundred million watchers, ‘until next time.” Some of the watchers are terrified—others are “in awe and wanting more of the same.”

In the bathroom, Mae turns her lens toward the door and carefully looks down at the note Ty slipped her. Ty insists on meeting Mae soon: all she has to do is say, “I’m going back,” at which time Ty will kill her visual and audio feed for a full half-hour. The note further explains that Mae’s life is “teetering on the precipice.” Mae is reluctant to turn off her feed, but she decides that she needs to understand how Ty has “pulled this off.” She says, “I’m going back,” and immediately, her camera turns off. Following Ty’s directions, she walks downstairs, to the red sculpture where she and Ty had sex for the first time.

Mae finds Ty by the red sculpture, and when she sees him she feels repulsed. She accuses him of lying about his identity. Ty tries to explain: he’s always been an “average-looking guy,” and after his hair went grey, all he had to do was lose his glasses in order to become Kalden. Mae asks Ty why his hair went grey, and he replies, “The fucking shark that eats the world.” He says that Bailey and Stenton know he goes by another name, and adds, “I’m not technically allowed to leave campus. As long as I’m here, they’re happy.”

Ty begs Mae to use her influence to fight against Completion. He created the idea of the Circle, but he never intended for it to become so powerful, or for Circle membership to be mandatory. Mae shoots back, “If you don’t believe in all this … go to the woods.” Ty points out that there will be no way to escape the Circle—parents will install chips in their children when they’re born, and when the children turn 18, the chips won’t be removed. People will be tracked and monitored from cradle to grave. The Circle will control the world’s information, meaning that they’ll have virtually unlimited power. Mae protests that governments will be able to keep the Circle from abusing its power, but Ty point out that transparent politicians won’t be able to do anything—if they do, the Circle will ruin their reputations. He asks, “What do you think happened to Williamson?”

Ty explains that Eamon Bailey genuinely believes that life will be “perfect” when the Circle is closed and “every soul is connected.” But Stenton has no such illusions—his only goal is to monetize the Circle and use it for his own “ruthless capitalistic ambition.” Mae argues that life will be perfect when there’s no more crime or deception, but Ty shakes his head and gives Mae a piece of paper. The paper contains a speech about “The Rights of Humans in the Digital Age” that argues that not all human activities can be measured, that humans must have the right to privacy, and that humans must have the right to disappear.” Ty begs Mae to read the speech to her watchers. Afterwards, Ty will begin to take apart the Circle. As Ty explains this, Mae imagines thousands of Circle employees losing their jobs.

Ty promises Mae that once he has taken down the Circle the two of them can sail around the world, hike mountains, and “vanish.” Mae thinks about sailing in a boat with Ty, and, for some reason, all she can think about is the elderly couple she met while kayaking. She thinks of how they spent their time drinking wine and “reminiscing about island fires.” Suddenly, Mae realizes what she has to do. She tells Ty, “I see everything clearly now.”