Rhetorical Analysis Of Speech By Florence Kelley

In Florence Kelley’s speech she talks about child labor and everything bad about it. She is speaking to the attendees of the Woman Suffrage convention; however, she is also speaking to the people of America as a whole. She is fighting to abolish the ridiculous working conditions of child labor She believes it is wrong to work a child an extended amount of time. This speech is also a way to gain the ability for women to vote. It shows women have the desire to make a change in the country. She forces her audience to think about themselves in comparison with the working children constantly throughout the speech. She associates the working with when they sleep. “Tonight while we sleep, several thousand little girls will be working in textile mills, all the night through…” This makes the audience feel guilty and truly think about how they have it compared to the children. This strategy is amplified by the fact it is

People can make a change and not allow children to do such labor. She also repeats “free the children” many times in her call to action. It really emphasizes the awfulness of the labor to the point that they need to be freed. Like slaves, to be freed from horrendous tasks. Repeating it over and over again is to stick it in her audience's head. However, she knows women can not vote yet, this is why her call to action is truly effective. It is pushing her audience to where they must vote. Women really care about children, most are mothers, and as such most women want to protect their children from being basically a slave. She is wanting to vote, as do the women at the convention, but this speech gives them a grand reason to need to vote. The need to make a change becomes apparent and this speech will push them over the top to do everything in their power to vote. Women want the power to vote away laws that men simply