In her speech at the National Women's Suffrage Association in 1905, Florence Kelley, a woman and labor rights activist, expresses her concern for the harsh labor conditions imposed upon children. Kelley’s concern has been expressed in many different ways within her speech, using strong emotional appeals to connect with her audience. Kelley adopts a disapproving disapproving tone to admonish the states that have relinquished labor laws used to protect children. In order to emphasize her distress for children working in harsh labor conditions and to call upon her audience to take action to nullify these harsh child labor laws, Kelley employs clear imagery to demonstrate , agonizing diction, and classifying personification. Kelley’s use of utilization of vivid and melancholic imagery helps paint a picture in the audience’s minds regarding the cruel and unusual hours and effort kids have to go through to make money at any time of day. When talking …show more content…
Near the end of Kelley’s speech, she states, “For the sake of the children, for the Republic in which these children will vote after we are dead, and for the sake of our cause, we should enlist the workingmen voters, with us, in this task of freeing the children from toil!” Kelley’s use of the word “toil” demonstrates the agony children have undergone due to a lack of child labor laws and is supposed to leave a memorable mark on her audience. Additionally, when Kelley discusses the adult’s perspective on the issues of these child labor laws, Kelley states that “we do not wish this. We prefer to have our work done by men and women. But we are almost powerless.” Kelley’s use of the word “powerless” helps demonstrate how this situation leaves children vulnerable without much help from adults to resolve the issue and is supposed to make her audience feel a sense of grief for these