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Rhetorical Strategies Used In Florence Kelley's Speech On Child Labor

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Speaking at the National American Woman Suffrage Association convention, Florence Kelley voiced her opinion on child labor to her audience. The rhetorical strategies Kelley used to appeal to her audience included repetition, parallel structure and oxymorons.
Kelley exercised with the use of parallel structure and repetition in her speech to show that age nor gender mattered in the workforce and many children were suffering because of this. When she says, “Men increase, women increase, youth increase, boys increase in ranks of breadwinners.”, it shows how age is not relevant in the workforce and how any age was appropriate for work not matter what the job was (Lines 10-11). By grouping men, women, and children in the same category it made the difference between the three more vivid. Women tend to be seen as more delicate than men and children are far more delicatethan both men and women combined. The three categories cannot all be thrown in the same work force, men and children should not be working in equally dangerous work places and for the same amount of hours. Also, she takes advantage of using repetition when she says, “While we sleep…”, repeatedly throughout her speech. When she says …show more content…

Work cannot be avoided, it is something that must be done and being able to work is a privilege but it is a “pitiful privilege” to children because they are too young for that kind of responsibility, they should be enjoying the life of freedom while they can (Line 45). By using two contradictory terms in her speech, Kelley brings the irony of her attitude towards the way child labor is being dealt with to life, “free our consciences from participation in this great evil” (Lines 64-65). Privileges usually are not pitiful and evils are not all that great, so this reveals the sarcasm in Kelley’s voice to the audience and helps to convey her message on child

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