Francis Garaventa Character Analysis in The Circle

Francis Garaventa is a Circle employee who dates Mae Holland on and off for most of the book. Francis could also be considered Eggers’s portrait of (or, if you prefer, his nasty caricature of) the typical Bay Area “tech nerd”—even his first name suggests his symbolic connection with San Francisco. Francis is a shy, awkward man. He suffers from premature ejaculations, which means that he and Mae have many erotic encounters but they never have sex. In spite of Francis’s awkwardness and sexual difficulties, Mae finds him to be adorable and deeply sympathetic. In part, his allure has to do with his difficult childhood: more than one of Francis’s siblings were killed while he was still a child, and, as a result, he is passionately working to design a program for tracking down kidnapped children. Francis is, one could argue, the archetypal “shy boy” who some people find sexy—he’s quiet and awkward, but his awkwardness makes him strangely alluring.

Francis Garaventa Quotes in The Circle

The The Circle quotes below are all either spoken by Francis Garaventa or refer to Francis Garaventa. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

Social Networking and the Internet Theme Icon

"It's the worst story," Annie said. "His parents were such fuckups. I think there were like four or five kids in the family, and Francis was youngest or second-youngest, and anyway the dad was in jail, and the mom was on drugs, so the kids were sent all over the place. I think one went to his aunt and uncle, and his two sisters were sent to some foster home, and then they were abducted from there. I guess there was some doubt if they were, you know, given or sold to the murderers."
"The what?" Mae had gone limp.
"Oh god, they were raped and kept in closets and their bodies were dropped down some kind of abandoned missile silo. I mean, it was the worst story ever.”

Related Characters: Mae Holland (speaker), Annie Allerton (speaker), Francis Garaventa

Page Number and Citation: 58

Explanation and Analysis:

In this passage, Mae asks Annie about a young man she’s met at the Circle, Francis Garaventa. Without hesitation, Annie tells Mae some shocking things about Francis’s early life: his parents didn’t raise him, and his sisters were raped and killed. Annie concludes her story with the unnecessary words, “It was the worst story ever.” Oddly enough, her words seem to minimize the horror of Francis’s early life. (“Worst story ever” sounds like something you’d say to describe a bad day of high school—not an actual tragedy). The passage is an early sign of the superficiality and insensitivity of the Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam cons

"You're enjoying this?" she asked.

"Mm-hm," he managed.

Mae thrilled at her power over him. Watching Francis, his hands on the bed, his penis straining against his pants, she thought of something she could say. It was corny, and she would never say it if she thought anyone would ever know she'd said it, but it made her smile, and she knew it would send Francis, this shy boy, over the edge.

Related Characters: Mae Holland (speaker), Francis Garaventa

Page Number and Citation: 203-204

Explanation and Analysis:

In this darkly comic passage, Mae gently masturbates her sometimes-boyfriend, Francis Garaventa. As she does so, readers get a sense for what Mae finds so attractive about Francis. On the surface, he is a rather nerdy and plain-looking young man, but the passage implies that Mae is attracted to Francis precisely because he’s so weak and immature-looking: he is, as Mae notes here, the archetypal “shy boy.” Some critics take Francis Garaventa to be Eggers’ caricature of the California tech nerd—Francis is awkward, uncomfortable around women, and very sexually immature. It’s crucial to notice that, at his most attractive to Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Com

"Was the information he presented incorrect? There were factual mistakes?"

"Well, it wasn't that. It was just . . . piecemeal. And maybe that made it seem incorrect. It was taking a few slivers of me and presenting that as the whole me—"
"It seemed incomplete." "Right."
"Mae, I'm very glad you put it that way. As you know, the Circle is itself trying to become complete. We're trying to close the circle at the Circle." He smiled at his own wordplay. "But you know the overall goals of completion, I assume."

Related Characters: Eamon Bailey (speaker), Mae Holland (speaker), Francis Garaventa, Gus Khazeni

Page Number and Citation: 289

Explanation and Analysis:

In this passage, Eamon Bailey continues his conversation with Mae Holland; they discuss Mae’s uncomfortable episode with Francis Garaventa, during which Francis volunteered personal information about Mae to an audience of thousands of people. Bailey alludes to the concept of “completion”—a concept that reappears later in the book (where the word is capitalized), and seems to allude to a world in which human beings are perfectly integrated with their virtual reality lives. There are many subtle things to notice here. First, notice that Mae shouldn't have to say why Francis’s actions made her uncomfortable, and just because Francis doesn’t do Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque. Deleniti nisi earum. Ad tenetur laboriosam. Eum accusamus

Francis Garaventa Character Timeline in The Circle

The timeline below shows where the character Francis Garaventa appears in The Circle. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...hidden some wine in a nearby pool. Mae follows the man, who introduces himself as Francis Garaventa. She notices that he has an older man’s eyes, but young, soft skin. Francis... (full context)

Totalitarianism and Indoctrination Theme Icon

Annie sees Mae and Francis talking and she comes to greet them. Francis seems oddly intimidated by Annie, and he... (full context)

Surveillance and Transparency Theme Icon

...it. Josef works in the Education Access department, and he says that he’s friends with Francis Garaventa—Francis had told him that he met someone “very nice” named Mae. Josef and Annie... (full context)

...her low scores, but her clients are grumpy and irritable. She receives a message from Francis inviting her to lunch. (full context)

At lunch, Mae sees Francis, and she notes that he seems unusually delicate—almost as if he’s shrunk since she last... (full context)

After work, Mae asks Francis if he wants to hang out. They get dinner in San Francisco and afterwards Mae... (full context)

In the days following her kiss with Francis, Mae wonders if she’s falling in love. Although she decides that she’s only “halfway” to... (full context)

One Friday, Mae and Francis sit in the Great Hall for the weekly presentation of new information. The speaker, Gus... (full context)

Later that day, Mae is still furious with Francis and Francis tries to apologize to her to no avail. Francis leaves Mae to work... (full context)

At work, Mae focuses on her customers, and ignores Francis’s endless stream of messages and apology videos. Annie returns from Peru on Friday and meets... (full context)

Later that night, Francis comes to Mae’s dorm and asks her to come to his own dorm. There, Francis... (full context)

Mae says that she should go, and Francis says “Okay” dispassionately. Mae is vaguely offended—she wants Francis to ask her to stay. She... (full context)

...Tom Stenton is about to give a talk. Mae has told Annie about the video Francis took, and Annie points out that, as long as Francis doesn’t show it to people,... (full context)

...to follow Kalden, but doesn’t see him. When she returns to her desk, she finds Francis waiting for her. Seeing Francis in person, Mae realizes that she finds him “disgusting”—weak and... (full context)

...day of the demonstration. Nevertheless, Bailey argues that none of the information that Gus and Francis talked about was incorrect or even particularly offensive. Mae argues that the information they presented... (full context)

...the program “intersects with TruYou,” so Mae asks and Jackie leads her to speak with Francis. Francis, whom Mae hasn’t seen in weeks, greets Jackie and Mae and explains that he’s... (full context)

Later in the afternoon, Mae thinks about Francis. He’s unattractive, and she knows that he has problems with premature ejaculations. However, Mae suddenly... (full context)

After leaving her office, Mae “found herself” in Francis’s room. She goes to Francis because everyone else in her life has abandoned her. Francis... (full context)

Afterwards, Francis asks Mae for a second fantasy: he wants her to rate him from 1 to... (full context)

...proposal to allow people to vote online has been widely celebrated. She meets up with Francis, who congratulates her on her “poise” during the meeting—“you were a 100,” he says. Francis... (full context)

The next morning, Mae wakes up in her dorm room lying next to Francis and her phone rings. She sees that the caller ID is blocked, and knows that... (full context)

Mae goes back to her dorm, where Francis is waiting. He kisses Mae, and Mae wonders if, this time, they’ll have “a real... (full context)

...presenter insists, will cut down on unethical “stop and search” procedures. The presenter suggests using Francis’s child tracking program to identify suspects. Stenton approves of the idea, saying, “It’s the community’s... (full context)

...ten million people worldwide have gone clear, which suggests that “the movement is irreversible.” Suddenly, Francis walks into the room and waves to her; Mae waves back. (full context)

Francis Garaventa Character Analysis

Francis Garaventa Quotes in The Circle

Book One, part 2 Quotes

Book One, part 6 Quotes

Book One, part 8 Quotes

Francis Garaventa Character Timeline in The Circle