Pranav Gupta Drufke AP Language 8 November 2024 Summative Rhetorical Analysis Essay Florence Kelley was a United States reformer who fought for women, during a time in which there were millions of children under the age of 16 working in the US. There was also a recent boom in the last decade in the number of girls working, influencing the change of some child labor laws. Kelley attended a convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association in 1905 to express how child labor is destroying the lives of children. Florence Kelley uses juxtaposition and rhetorical questions while addressing women at the convention, claiming that women gaining the right to vote is crucial for the end of child labor. To begin her arguments, Kelley contrasts …show more content…
By comparing being able to work through the night as a privilege, Kelley creates a paradox and argues that children shouldn’t be able to work at night. The contrast illuminates the idea that child labor is not really a privilege at all, it is a deprivation of rest that children need to grow and learn. Kelley does this to emphasize how damaging child labor can be, creating a strong connection of anger with other women. Her ironic tone clarifies the burden placed upon children because of child labor, and sparks women to protest for their rights. Kelley suggests that women gaining the right to vote will influence the decisions that leaders can make and bring an end to child labor. While continuing to showcase the dark side of child labor, Keeley utilizes rhetorical questions to convey the importance of women's suffrage. She starts to discuss the reason that child labor is a problem that is not getting better. Kelley suggests that if mothers and teachers, who witness the effects of child labor first hand, could vote, they might be able to “stop the work in the mills of children under twelve years of age” (Kelley