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Rhetorical Analysis Of Speech By Florence Kelley

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On July 22, 1905, Florence Kelley, a supporter of child labor laws and improved conditions for working women, delivered a powerful speech before the convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association in Philadelphia. Through uses of rhetoric strategies, such as, evidence, diction, and imagery, Kelley illustrates her argument that working conditions and laws must be changed. Kelley begins her speech by presenting a list of statistics. As many as “two million children under the age of sixteen years” earn their bread (lines 1-2). No other group of workers increased as rapidly as young girls from fourteen to twenty (lines 8-10). By listing these estimates, Kelley gives her audience an idea of the significance of the problem. Without these first two paragraphs of data, the rest of the speech is not as compelling. Also, Kelley does not simply state the statistics; she compares the evidence concerning children and women to the other wage earning groups. Aside from listing these numbers, Kelley also cites a few examples of state laws regarding child labor. She compares Alabama’s law to the laws of North and South Carolina, Georgia, and New Jersey. Kelley seems to be setting Alabama as an example that the other states should follow. While Alabama does …show more content…

In numerous paragraphs, Kelley paints an image: a young girl working in a dingy mill at the dead of night. By illustrating this image multiple times, her audience is more likely to sympathize with Kelley, and therefore more likely to help fight for child labor laws. ****40 minutes**** Kelley links this to women’s voting rights by describing another scenario: none of the mothers are able to vote to protect their children from working long hours, unable to free their “children from toil” (line 96). Kelley’s use of imagery helps her audience “see” what young children must do every night in order to

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