“I, PENCIL” by Leonard E. Read
The Freeman: Dec. 1958
(Abridged and Simplified by Jacques Brouillette)
Teacher’s introduction:
Below is a simplified version of a famous article by Leonard Reed, “I, Pencil”. It is written from the
perspective of a pencil that tries to tell its life story, and in doing so includes millions of people in society
with different specialties that ‘some how’ come together to produce the simple object of a pencil. I have
given it to you as an example of Emile Durkheim’s ‘Structural functionalism’, which views society as an
organism that has a set structure of different parts, each with their own job and working together to
keep society functioning smoothly. How do YOU think this article demonstrates the ‘some how’ of
structural functionalism‘？
You may notice, though, that Leonard Reed focuses on this process being ‘unguided’ by any large power
He tries to stress that this ‘structure’ finds itself naturally because everyone involved has an interest in
making the most money from the process, and no one person could ever program the whole structure.
In this aspect, Reed is engaging in a 200 year old debate on economic theory – between Marxism and
Adam Smith, State Run Economics v. Free Market Capitalism (i.e., should one committee dictate the
economy, or should we let the ‘invisible hand’ of the free market rule, and everyone just does what is
best for them, hoping for the best).
We will not read Smith at all, but it is important to understand this context for the writing. In terms of
what we have read so far, this is an opposite stance to C Wright Mills’ Marxist angle in ‘Sociological
Imagination’, and will also be in opposition to Marx’s ‘Communist Manifesto’ that we will read in the
next section of class.
While the economic theory is of course very interesting and worth debating, I would like us to look past
this part and focus on the social structure behind creating a pencil – the ‘some how’ of how these
different special skills come together to make it, and the complexity behind such a simple object. How
and why do such specialties form? How do people coordinate their skills together? What motivation do
they have to do so? Do they actually care about pencils? What does this tell us about ‘interdependence’
and the evolution of society? How does this compare to societies 2000 years ago? What are other
products of society that require this kind of ‘interdependence’, how does this interdependence form,
and how is it maintained over hundreds of years?
TEXT:
Introduction
I am a lead pencil—the ordinary wooden that every boy, girl, and adult knows who can read and write.
Writing is all I do. I am one of the simplest things that you know… but could you make me?
You may wonder why I should write a genealogy – a story of my family history. Well, to begin with, my
story is interesting. And, next, I am a mystery—more than a tree or a sunset or even a flash of lightning, I
am a mystery. But, sadly, I am not appreciated by those who use me. I am treated as if I was just always
there and it is nothing special how I got into your hand. This arrogant attitude makes people think I am
just some ordinary object that they don’t need to think about. Making the mistake of not appreciating
the pencil is a dangerous error that, I think, will threaten mankind. As the wise G. K. Chesterton said,
“We are perishing for want of wonder, not for want of wonders.”
I, Pencil, although I may seem simple, should in fact make you feel in awe – and I will try to prove this to
you. I will also prove that I am in fact a miracle – and if you can understand that I am a miracle, you can
appreciate the freedom of mankind. I, the Pencil, have an important lesson to teach. And I can teach this
lesson better than a car or airplane because—well, because I seem so simple.
Simple? But not a single person on the earth knows how to make all of me. This sounds fantastic,
doesn’t it? Especially when it is realized that there are about 1.5 billion of me made in just the U.S.A.
each year.
