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Rhetorical Analysis Of Speech By Florence Kelley

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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. In the speech, Kelley introduces the issue in a credible manner, which allows the audience to support her argument. For example, the introductory of the various state policies lets the audience acknowledge her credibility by introducing these topics. This emphasizes ethos in her message of child labor prevention such as,” They vary from age six to seven years…in Georgia…eight, nine,ten…coal breakers of …show more content…

Kelley addresses this idea by stating, “Tonight while we sleep, several thousand little girls will be working in textile mills, all the night through… silks and ribbons for us to buy.” Essentially, the usage of this rhetorical strategy makes the audience more reluctant to listen and agree by appealing to the kids’ situations by adding, “…while we sleep through the night.” Additionally, Kelley introduces additional pathos by stating, “New Jersey, boys and girls, enjoy the pitiful privilege of working all night long.” This oxymoron of a child actually enjoying constant labor “all night long” brings her audience in to feel guilty. Ultimately, her utilization of examples of children working through the night to produce what the audience wears and use in their daily lives draws the audience into her message and helps gain

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