Mae Holland's Life

"Imagine growing up in a small town with a population of less than 2000 people and never leaving. Imagine investing $234,000 in college and getting a job where you dread going to work everyday for a boss that is not qualified for the position they have. Sounds awful right? In The Circle written by Dave Eggers and in the movie directed by James Ponsoldt, this was Mae Hollands reality. Mae Holland was a regular individual living an average lifestyle until she got a job at The Circle. The story follows young Mae Holland-mid twenties-as she leaves her mundane old desk job at a utility company in her home town for a position at a technology company that was voted “the world’s most admired company four years running” (2). Mae Hollands journey is portrayed in two different ways and although the book and movie are different adaptations of the same story you can clearly see that Mae Holland is just an ordinary girl who tries to take a heroic approach towards society after being exposed to The Circle but ends up becoming a villain throughout the midst of the story.

Mae was living in a Longfield, a small town located in California, adjacent to Fresno with nothing new or exciting. Mae was living a boring ordinary life. She did what most normal people did, she attended High School in Longfield and after High School Mae enrolled at Carleton University. While attending college she met her best friend Annie Allerton whom shed soon work with. Mae had majored in psychology and after college Mae moved back to Longfield to live with her parents which was where she obtained a job at a utility company where she worked for over a whole year just to start paying off her 234,000 dollars in student loans. Her town had nothing left for her, she wanted change, she wanted to do something with her