A Rhetorical Analysis Of Florence Kelley's Speech For Child Labor

During the time Florence Kelley was advocating for changes, child labor was a popular unrestricted practice. The kids were working making textiles and other items in horrible working conditions. Many states had children working more than 12 hours a day and night shifts while they were not allowed to go to school. Florence Kelley was a United States social worker and a reformer. She fought ferociously for improvements in child labor and conditions for working women. At this convention for the National American Woman Suffrage Association she wants to reach out the women focused on suffrage towards other issues. Kelley used rhetorical strategies to help convince her audience to help her fight against child labor. The use of repetition, imagery, and rhetorical question help get her point of eradicating child labor across to the audience.

Kelley commences her speech by providing a shocking statistic that “two million children under the age of sixteen years” strenuously work to support themselves and their families in order to create a forceful sense of emotion within her audience. By doing this she illuminates the rate of child labor to stress the severity of the problem. The author repeats “increase” to emphasize and describe that the American workforce is increasingly composed of girls/women in order to highlight their role and the growth of their participation in the workforce. Juxtaposing how girls spend their time with how

Kelley uses appeals to logos throughout her speech in order to sway her audience. For example, in the first sentence of the speech, she states, “two million children under the age of sixteen years” are earning their living. The alarming statistics are a shock to the audience that appeals to their emotions. The sheer number of children having to work sets the audience up to realizing the importance in taking action against the issue. Furthermore, Kelley declares girls of age seven “may work eleven hours” throughout the night. The audience's heartstrings are pulled, as children of such

Effective uses of appeals to logic are made through insightful parallel structure and an oxymoron, both of which demonstrate the unjust truth. Kelley ensures her audience that the growing rate of working children is indeed overpowering the rate of working adults when she states, “Men increase, women increase, youth increase, boys increase in the ranks of the breadwinners; but no contingent so doubles from census period (both by percent and by count of heads), as does the contingent of girls between twelve and twenty years of age.” The parallelism depicts how there was a normal flow of growth for all men, women, and boys, yet the growth rate of

In America, there used to be unfair laws and regulations regarding labor. Children are put to work in harsh conditions, conditions often deemed difficult even for adults, and are forced to work ridiculous hours. Florence Kelley gave a speech at the National American Woman Suffrage Association in Philadelphia on July 22, 1905. In her speech, Kelley uses repetition, pathos, imagery, logos, and carefully placed diction to express how child labor is morally wrong and inhumane.

In 1905, in the United States, some children as young as six years old are working in factories and women aren’t allowed to vote. Florence Kelley is a fiery and inspiring child labor activist and also a suffragette. On July 22, 1905, in Philadelphia, she gives a speech to the National American Women Suffrage Association (NAWSA) to try to rally them to assist her in her main cause which is fixing the child labor system. In her speech where she doesn’t hold back, Kelley lets the audience know why the child labor system is atrocious and why they should get involved. She also tells them the steps that they should take to try to right these wrongs, in convincing their husbands to vote for child labor

The speaker begins her speech with introducing the topic of child labor by stating powerful facts that support her case and using poignant diction to create sympathy; these devices work together to bring attention to the problem of children being overworked from very young ages, and attempt to win the audiences allegiance to her cause. Kelley refers to a census regarding the different groups of people making up the “wage earning class,” and saying that “no contingent so doubles from census period to census period…as does the contingent of girls between twelve and twenty years of age.” The rate of young girls working, earning a living, increases faster than any other group of people. The reference to a census, tells the audience that, not only has the speaker done research on her topic using credible sources, it indicates she is serious about it. Utilizing the census’ data, the speaker does well. In addition to using fact, the speaker also uses diction to reveal that she would like to make a

Initially Kelley conveys her message about the corrupt child labor laws by criticizing the practices of the states in a way that incites change by using examples and rhetorical devices. She begins by providing specific evidence of child labor statistics to add to her credibility. Explaining that “two million children under the age of sixteen” are working just to survive, alludes to the

“Tonight while we sleep…” those little children will be busy working adult like hours, does not that upset you? Due to child labor laws in the United States in the early 20th century, children were working a great quantity of hours during the night time “while we sleep.” In the United States approximately twenty million children are working for their own food because of child labor laws. Florence Kelley, the author of this essay is disgusted by these unjust child labor laws and is empathetic towards the children,but also Kelley is ashamed of the United States rights of women. In this speech, Kelley expresses her loathe feeling towards child labor laws and emphasizes the fact that women cannot vote; in order for them to vote against them.

Kelley says, "Last year New Jersey took a long backward step. A good law was repealed which had required women and [children] to stop work at six in the evening and at noon on Friday. Now, therefore, in New Jersey, boys and girls, after their 14th birthday, enjoy the pitiful privilege of working all night long.” Kelley’s interesting use of the phrase “pitiful privilege” refers to the child labor laws set by states. These children are allowed to work, to carry the burden of an adult on their shoulders when they reach a certain age. The word “pitiful” is feeling sorry for someone, while “privilege” refers to a granted right. Put together, these two words create a different meaning, an oxymoron. The “pitiful privilege” of these children being allowed to work, but having to work for so long is very problematic. Her effective use of this oxymoron, is criticizing the states, as these rights they give to the children is only hurting them, when it should be helping. Kelley heavily refers to states laws to show that they are responsible for the child labor problems, because they allow the children to work in the first

Florence Kelley, an active social worker and reformer of the 20th century, rants over the horrendous working conditions kids must endure. She presents this in her speech before National American Woman Suffrage Association in Philadelphia, which provides context and credibility for her argument. Kelley argues clearly of the terrible conditions and work hours kids suffer to bring about her message of, “enlisting the workingmen voters.” This is essentially to free the kids from the disastrous issue through her usage of credibility, empathetic tone to strike the audience, and her usage of examples of their conditions and state rules to support her message and purpose.

cause she believed in, Kelley moved up in society by serving as the head of the National

With the effect in mind, she continues with another example of state laws that are totally disagreeable towards the eyes of the members of NAWSA. Kelley concentrates on the state of New Jersey knowing that they have the worst child labor laws in the nation. She explains that New Jersey lawmakers repealed their previous child labor laws to allow children over the age of fourteen to work overnight. (Kelley 6) The author describes the law repealing as “pitiful” and “a privilege,” using a sarcastic tone. Without this, children would have been done at work at six o'clock every day, except Friday. Kelley adds a final problem with state’s child labor laws, this time impacting the northeast. She explained to her audience that the cause of Pennsylvania lawmakers changing their child labor laws was due to the effect a twelve hour work time had affected these children. (Kelley 7) The author uses an example to exemplify that the effect of the law changes affects thousands more than the girl mentioned in the paragraph. Finally, these law changes affect only the children themselves, without any violation of the Commonwealth.

Florence Kelley was a United States social worker and reformer who fought successfully for child labor laws and improved conditions for working women. Throughout her speech to the Philadelphia Convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, she stresses the importance of changing the working conditions that are in place for children. By using child labor as her baseline, Kelley is able to talk about her main point, which is her suggestion for women’s rights with the help of repetition, strong word choice, and opposition.

In Chicago, around the eighteen-hundreds, there was the desire for cheap labor. Consumer demand for clothes and manufactured products played a big part in this issue. The desire for manufacturers to meet the increasing consumer demand ultimately led to the hiring of children and other individuals. To reduce expenditures, working conditions did not play a major concern in the factory owners’ decisions. These factories were not very safe and sanitation was poor. Oftentimes many of these sweatshop workers were found working many hours a day for a long period of time with very little, if any pay. Florence Kelley was a factory inspector who fought against child labor and the existence of sweatshops. Through her experiences and descriptions, we