Pencil Symbol Analysis

James’s pencil represents his desire for and struggle to regain agency and self-determination as an enslaved person. Young George steals the pencil from his enslaver at Jim’s request, and the man implores him to “[t]ell the story with your ears. Listen.” Though Jim does not quite understand, he feels Young George’s advice is profound. Later, Jim witnesses Young George being beaten for stealing the pencil, and even later, hears that he was killed for the alleged crime, despite a lack of evidence. The cost of the pencil—Young George’s life—only makes it more precious to James, who feels compelled to write for the young man, whose voice has been silenced. With the pencil, Jim “wrote myself into being,” and renames himself “James.” Here, he reclaims his autonomy through the written word, which is itself a forbidden act for an enslaved person like himself. In his conversation with Easter, Jim senses his ability to write is a “call to duty,” referencing the feeling that he is in a war against enslavers and their supporters. He always keeps his pencil on him, even when he is sold to the enslaver Henderson, finding its presence comforts him. That the ability to affirm his own identity feels like security to Jim—a runaway slave, whose life is constantly endangered—is significant, demonstrating how his sense of self has become linked to his survival. In other words, Jim has begun to view himself not only as a man trying to survive war but as “a man who will not let his story be self-related, but self-written.” Ultimately, the reader realizes they are reading that very “self-written” tale, evidence that James has succeeded in determining his own legacy.