Rhetorical Analysis Of Child Labor By Florence Kelley

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During the Industrial Revolution while the United States economy boomed it was at the expense of the underprivileged lower class. Florence Kelley was a prominent figure during this tumultuous time who brought light to issues such as women's rights, and child labor. She spoke to various conventions including the National American Woman Suffrage Association about these issues in an attempt to spark change. Specifically at this event she discusses the topic of child labor and calls women to action even though they cannot yet vote. Kelley utilizes logos, imagery, and theoretical examples to convince these women to petition and spread the ideas for preventative legislation surrounding child labor. Many speeches fall under the trap of only trying to provoke emotion in there listeners depending on them already knowing the facts, or on them not caring. Kelley utilizes logos in order to educate her audience helping them to better spread the message and more thoroughly convince them of her purpose. One example of this is shown in the very first paragraph lines 1-3, “ We have, in this country, two million children under the age of sixteen years, who are earning their bread”. She gives real shocking facts that show the scope of this issue and grab the attention of listeners …show more content…

This is shown in lines 20-22 when she describes the sights and sounds of the textile mills these children work in, “in the deafening noise of spindles and looms spinning and weaving cotton and wool, silks and ribbon for us to buy”. Through this use of imagery Kelley puts the audience in the shoes of the little girls helping them to better connect with the issue. This evokes a sense of emotion throughout the audience since they better understand the issue. It helps to show women in the audience who do not work in factories or have children in factories what it would be like gaining new followers for her