Florence Kelley Ap Language

United States social worker and reformer Florence Kelley, in her speech to the National American Woman Suffrage Association in Philadelphia on July 22, 1905, emphasizes the dire need to reform the working conditions of children across the country. Throughout the speech, Kelley strives to make the audience aware of the terrible hours and conditions that children face, and to compel the listeners at the convention to empathize with the children in their situation. Kelley adopts a compelling, yet passionate tone in order to call the listeners to action to help the child workers, while still demonstrating how much she truly believes in solving the issue. Kelley employs repetition of phrases in order to emphasize the lack of involvement from the

Kelley begins her argument about the lack of involvement from the nation with the phrase “while we sleep” and ends the section by repeating the phrase (18). She guilts the audience by reminding them of how they sleep soundly through the night while children work, buy the products produced by the children, and do nothing to help the children in their plight. The audience is likely aware of the issues within child labor, but they have done little to nothing to try and resolve the unfair conditions and hours faced during the night. Near the end of the speech, Kelley repeats the first-person pronouns “we,” “our,” and “us” to provide a personal connection with the audience (93, 94, 95). Kelley demonstrates that she is not without fault in standing by while children have slaved away and wants the audience to work with her to resolve the issues and stand by no

At the beginning of the speech, Kelley explains that “two million children under the age of sixteen are earning their [family’s] bread” and serve as a source of income to support households (1-3). Kelley then goes on to disclose that many states have no minimum age requirements for workers which can cause elementary-age children to work in factories and mills at night. Kelley uses the metonymy of bread to refer to money and explains how the child is an important source of income for many families. By elaborating on the ages at which children work, Kelley demonstrates to the audience that anyone can be a victim of the horrors of child labor and attempts to cause the audience to feel empathy toward the children in their situation. Similarly, Kelley employs the oxymoron of “deafening noise” to refer to the poor conditions that children face throughout the night. In another attempt to cause the audience to feel empathy, Kelley warns that the child workers could face hearing problems from working in the loud mills and factories while those listening to her stand by and