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Florence Kelley Ap Language Essay

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Individuals in society are obligated to speak up in support of those who do not have a voice. Around the beginning of the 1900s, child labor was instituted on a large scale, as children did not need to be guaranteed the same treatment as adults. Several people argued for child protection such as Florence Kelley, who was a United States social worker and reformer who has spoken out against child labor. In the speech delivered to the National American Suffrage Convention, Kelley argues that children are being exploited to work in harsh conditions with little to no protection in legislation. Florence Kelley utilizes a sentimental story that invokes the reader to sympathize with the children, provides examples of the lack of state laws for child …show more content…

Kelley uses an example of a little girl affected by the lack of child laws as she describes, “13 years of age” who spent her birthday working “twelve hours at night” (7). The evidence would allow the reader to realize that the effects of no regulations in the child labor system is apparent and needs to be addressed. Kelley is able to persuade women and men at the National American Woman Suffrage convention to take the initiative to take a stand against unreasonable working conditions for adolescent children who don’t have a voice for themselves. With the use of a short emotional anecdote, Kelley is able to strengthen her claim regarding advocating for women’s right to vote in order to achieve stronger child labor laws to ensure little girls on their 13th birthday wouldn’t have to spend 12 hours working. As a result, the anecdote compels the audience at the convention to improve conditions for child labor, as the children have little to no protection in the legislation. Thus, Kelley effectively is able to move the men and women at the suffrage convention to advocate for women’s voting rights so that they can change the child labor laws by urging the audience at the convention to take a stand against this injustice. Kelley influences her audience to advocate for women’s suffrage in order to …show more content…

Kelley compares contrasting words as she notes, “Now, therefore, in New Jersey, boys and girls, after their 14th birthday, enjoy the pitiful privilege of working all night long” (6). Kelley is able to create a sense of compassion for the children throughout her audience by using contradicting words such as pitiful and privilege to make the men and women at the convention ponder about the morbid reality of young children working in harsh conditions. Kelley uses the word “privilege” as almost ironic contrast to the pitiful situation convincing the suffragists at the convention to take action against intensive working conditions. Hence, Kelley is able to convince the men and women at the convention to advocate for women’s suffrage through putting conflicting words together to sway the audience to support her cause for voting rights for women. Kelley continues to remind the audience that in order to take the burden of a pitiful privilege off of children, they first need to gain voting rights to make their stances

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In her speech to the National American Woman Suffrage Association, Florence Kelly descriptively vocalizes about chid labor. She talks about the horrible conditions young children face in the states. Kelly uses repetition to put emphasis on little girls working in textile mills, “while we sleep” is repeated 3 times this makes the audience feel guilty for enjoying life while little girls are working. Kelly also uses pathos, appealing to the emotion of her

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In the twenty-first century, there seems to be less news regarding child labor and women’s suffrage in developed countries. However, long ago, in the 1900s, the United States was suffering from such an issue too. In 1905, Florence Kelley gave a speech in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, about the relationship between child labor and women’s suffrage. She spoke in an urgent tone to government officials and the general public through descriptive language and punctuation to evoke emotions, continuous rhetorical questions to reinforce her purpose, repetition to juxtapose a child labor’s life to those of adults about her purpose of abolishing child labor as well as giving women their suffrage. Kelley begins her speech by introducing the working conditions of child laborers through descriptive language.

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On July 22nd, 1905, Florence Kelley, a United States social worker and reformer who fought successfully for child labor laws and improved conditions for working women, delivered a speech on child labor before the convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association in Philadelphia. The purpose of her speech was to convince her audience that the only way to stop child labor was by allowing women the right to vote. Florence Kelley uses certain rhetorical strategies, such as pathos, diction, and an extensive use of figurative language, to appeal to her audience and accomplish her goal. Kelley’s speech is composed of a substantial amount of emotional appeals to aid her in connecting with her intended audience. In paragraph four she says, “Tonight while we sleep, several thousand little girls will be working in textile mills, all the night through, in the deafening noise of the spindles and the looms spinning and weaving cotton and wool, silks and ribbons for us to buy.”

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She plays upon the fact that mothers are more defensive of younger girls to make the women feel pity for the young workers of America. Subjecting the listeners to a feeling of dejection, Kelley lists off the hours child workers are permitted to work in each state: Alabama, eight hours; North Carolina, no restriction; South Carolina, no restriction; Georgia, no restriction; New Jersey, no restriction due to a recently repealed law. Using the allusion, “pitiful privilege”, Kelley states that what the young workers, “under the sweating system”, face is the direct opposite of privilege because privilege is not the image of a thirteen year old girl in Pennsylvania working twelve hours a night without violating any

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The women have a distinct emotion of being confused, but Florence Kelley isn’t going to evoke more emotion yet, instead she will proceed to manipulate their confusion with logic to highlight her claim. Florence Kelley transitions into an illuminating position in her third paragraph, she says, “Tonight while we sleep, several thousand little girls will be working in textile mills, all the night through, in the deafening noise of the spindles and the looms spinning and weaving cotton and wool, silks and ribbons for us to buy”(Kelley paragraph 3). While she illuminates the problem, she also draws in the audience with her diction. The use of “We” ties in the introduction and shows how while they are fast asleep children are put in danger to provide their basic wants. Everyone is the problem including the women because their inability to vote doesn’t affect their duty to stop injustice.

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Towards the end of her speech, she beings to describe all the things these children make, how they spin and weave to“stamp buckles and metal ornaments”, spin and weave to “make our shoes”, spin and weave “knit our stockings”. They slave away as “little beasts of burden” inside these factories and mills, all to produce goods. Kelley tactfully includes things that the women in the audience would be wearing, or perhaps planning to buy later, to draw them in, making the horrendous conditions seem that much worse. Her strong choice of diction and examples throughout the speech help her create this harsh, driving call to action. Her use of the oxymoron “pitiful privilege” is another excellent example of this, showing her successful use at juxtaposing the ridiculousness of these laws; the government says its a privilege, while in reality it is far from

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Firstly, Florence Kelley asks, “if the mothers and the teachers in Georgia could vote, would the Georgia Legislature have refused at every session for the last three years to stop the work in the mills of children under twelve years of age?” In this rhetorical question, the speaker acknowledges that women cannot yet vote, so she is placing the repsonsibility to end child labor on those with the power of the ballot. Similarly, in the second-to-last paragraph, Kelley poses a question that asks “what can we do to free our consciences?” in reference to the guilt that the audience feels as bystanders of child labor. She then suggests the solution of “enlist[ing] the workingmen voters,” to work towards stricter child labor laws, placing this responsibility in the hands of the audience.

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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.

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In America’s history, child labor was fiercely criticized. Many activists of child labor laws and women’s suffrage strived to introduce their own viewpoints to the country. Florence Kelley was a reformer who successfully changed the mindset of many Americans through her powerful and persuading arguments. Florence Kelley’s carefully crafted rhetoric strategies such as pathos, repetition, and sarcasm generates an effective and thought provoking tone that was in favor of women’s suffrage and child labor laws. Florence Kelley uses pathos continuously throughout her speech.

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