Florence Kelley Rhetorical Analysis

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Rhetorical Analysis on Florence Kelley’s speech about Child Labor Laws Florence Kelley was a social and political reformer that fought for woman’s suffrage and child labor laws. Her speech to the National American Woman’s Suffrage Association initiated a call to action for the reform of child labor laws. She explains how young children worked long and exhausting hours during the night and how despicable these work conditions were. Kelley’s use of ethos, logos, pathos, and repetition helps her establish her argument for the reform of the child labor laws. Kelley’s use of factual information such as her first sentence “We have, in this country, two million children under the age of sixteen years…” helps her establish credibility. By giving a tangible number to focus on, the audience pays her more attention. This displays Kelley’s knowledge on the subject making her appear more reliable to the audience. As the speech continues, she shows us more of her knowledge by stating and comparing specific child labor …show more content…

She excites the feelings of guilt and pity in order to gain the support of her audience. By using details that describe the horrible work conditions of “several thousand little girls”, such as “in the deafening noise of the spindles” and “all night through”, she emphasizes how bad the children’s lives are without the proper laws. Another example of pathos being used is “A little girl, on her thirteenth birthday, could start away from her home at half past five in the afternoon, carrying her pail of midnight luncheon, and could work in the mill from six at night until six in the morning…” Kelly’s subtle emphasis on the innocence of children as seen the preceding example, gives the audience a feeling of guilt because children shouldn’t need to work through the night. By going into more detail about the type of work children do, Kelley helps to persuade the audience into making a change in order to satisfy their

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