"I, Pencil" Summary, Quotes, and Analysis

The main idea of this essay is that people are limited to what they can do. The pencil talks about what it is made of to show all the people that are needed to make it. Unfortunately, none of these people actually know how to make the pencil all by themselves. The pencil is created because of natural forces that cause one to do what they know in exchange for other goods/services.
1. "Simple? Yet, not a single person on the face of this earth knows how to make me."
2. "Think of all the persons and the numberless skills that went into their fabrication..."
3. "The absence of a master mind, of anyone dictating or forcibly directing these countless actions which bring me into being."
The pencil's reference to the amount of people needed to make it and the different materials that is needed to make it is similar to the working factor of capitalism. The people are the labor; the tree, seed, etc. are the land, and the saws, trucks, ropes, etc. are the capital. No one knows how to make the pencil all by themselves because they are only told what to do and not to do what they can do. Some people create part of the pencil and the other people create the other part of the pencil. They create the parts without knowing what the parts are for or why they are doing it. The only thing they do know is that they are creating these parts to exchange for other goods/services they need. This natural force that cause people to create the pencil without knowing that they are creating it is "the Invisible Hand". The Invisible Hand causes large companies and/or corporations to become greedy and take advantage of their workers. Therefore, these large companies and/or corporations assign jobs to people and limit them to what they can do so the companies and corporations can make the profit.