The Destruction Of Identity In The Circle By Dave Eggers

Art, defined by the dictionary, is “the quality, production, expression, or realm, according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance.” How people interpret the “more than ordinary significance” from the beautified ugly truth molded in a statue, painted on a canvas, or captured in a photograph ties to their identity, the very core of who they are. The way people interpret is tailored specifically to their born and learned behaviors, life experiences, and the environment around them: the people and the places. The way people interpret is the common denominator of identity. The way people think either helps or restricts the level of understanding people are able to retract from anything,
One’s mental capacity, what a person can handle, influences and limits the level of understanding one can handle and take away from a work of art, as well as the forever influencing opinions of society— accepting the limited perception society wants you to see is simply easier. In The Circle by Dave Eggers, the Circle shapes societies opinions and, except for the sane few, the people take the Circle’s opinions as their own. Mae and fellow Circlers interprets the the chinese sculpture of a big hand, “Reaching Through the Good of Mankind,” as a “helping hand” because they fail to have the capacity to accept, or even see the possibility, of something outside their ideals and beliefs. They only have the capacity to see what they want to see. This warps their vision of truth and understanding, not only of the sculpture but of people and morals. In reality, the sculpture’s name gives irony to the sculpture, which represents “overreaching, all-consuming power.” Some fail to have the mental capacity to interpret the true meaning, so they see what they want to see instead. Some people assume what they see through common mentality and fail to think for themselves. In this case, their identity fails to be their own and compromises their individuality. Society deeply influences what they see, so they cannot draw meaning for themselves, cannot have their own identity. The easiest mentality to fall into is mob mentality— there’s an angel and devil on each shoulder and the devil wins sometimes. Art represents how making meaning is struggle between individual identity and societal