I, Pencil: My Family Tree as Told to Leonard E. Read

Read’s goal is to persuade the reader that laissez-faire capitalism is preferable to government planning. He states his thesis, in the fourth paragraph, using emotional language: “[I]f you can become aware of the miraculousness which I symbolize, you can help save the freedom mankind is so unhappily losing” (4). Throughout the essay, Read uses similarly emotional language—“astounding,” “miracle,” “unbelievably”—as well as an abundance of exclamation points, to stimulate a sense of “wonder and awe” in the reader. He casually mentions opposing viewpoints twice but without fleshing them out or rebutting them substantively. For example, he acknowledges that the reader “may say that I go too far in relating the picker of a coffee berry in far-off Brazil and food growers elsewhere to my creation; that this is an extreme position” (7). Instead of justifying the inclusion, he simply rejects the criticism without discussion: “I shall stand by my claim” (7).

“I, Pencil” is written as dramatic monologue—a literary form in which the writer takes on the voice of a character and speaks through them—from the perspective of an “ordinary wooden pencil” (4). This device allows Read to convey an abstract argument about dispersed knowledge in the concrete, relatable terms of a “family tree,” or genealogy: “Just as you cannot trace your family tree back very far, so is it impossible for me to name and explain all my antecedents” (4). The use of active instead of passive voice makes the essay more engaging and readable. The technique of speaking through the pencil prompts the reader to view this very ordinary object—“sadly, I am taken for granted by those who use me, as if I were a mere incident and without background” (4)—from a fresh perspective, thereby preparing them to engage with new ideas about how markets work.

Read employs several rhetorical devices—including repetition, diction, anecdotes, rhetorical questions, hypophora, perspective, etc.—to set the mood and persuade the reader. Stylistically, rhetorical devices are linguistic tools the author or speaker employs to evoke a particular feeling from the audience. The author’s deliberate diction and syntax, or word choices and their arrangement, support the essay’s persuasive message. Read frames his essay from the perspective of a pencil, which advocates for “the Invisible Hand” of free market activity, as evidenced by the large number of interconnected people and processes that occur every day to ensure pencils remain a universally accessible commodity. The word “millions” is repeated throughout the essay to underscore the vastness of dispersed knowledge. To express the essay’s main points, the pencil relates several informative anecdotes via its antecedents, or genealogy. After the conclusion of its genealogical journey, the pencil poses rhetorical questions and employs hypophora, or posing a question that the speaker immediately answers, to engage readers in the argument.