Florence Kelley Speech Analysis

Improved Essays
Kelley Speech
Much of child labor has been dated back to the nineteenth and early twentieth century when young children of all ages were put to work in harsh conditions. Florence Kelley, a passionate and articulate woman delivers her speech towards child labor at the National American Suffrage Association in Philadelphia. She dictates injustices, children must go through when put to work on farms and factories. From the beginning of her speech to the ending Florence uses the appeals of ethos and pathos to reach her audience of mothers typically the high educated class.
The appeal of pathos is strongly used and repeated throughout the speech to catch the reader’s attention and make them feel sympathy along with empathy for the children. The
…show more content…
Florence states “In Alabama the law provides that a child under sixteen years of age shall not work in a cotton mill at night longer than eight hours “In this country, two million children under the age of sixteen years who are earning their bread.” Florence Kelley then compares the different laws and restrictions between states by stating, “In Georgia there is no restrictions whatever! A girl of six or seven years, just tall enough to reach the bobbins, may work eleven hours by day or by night.” Following that, she adds, “In Pennsylvania, until last May, it was lawful for children, 13 years of age, to work twelve hours at night.” “Last year New Jersey... A good law was repealed which had required women and [children] to stop work at six in the evening and at noon on Friday.” By giving information, she gives the audience a sense that she is well informed. When Florence talks about laws admitted into states she gives the audience hope in other states changing their laws …show more content…
An article published by South China Morning Post reveals the work environment, children in China are still experiencing at such young ages. The article reported, “A large portion of the more than 1,000 apparel manufacturers in Changshu, Jiangsu province, have been using cheap labor.” Children as young as three to sixteen years old are put to work in abusive, poor conditions and paid less than minimum wage. One 15-year-old worker quoted as saying he, “works at least 28 days a month, starting work each day at 7.30am and never finishing before 10pm.” When asked about the treatment workers experience from his employer, he said, “The boss beats him if he “misbehaves.” He added that he and his co-workers don’t get paid until the end of the year, and will not be paid at all if they leave before then.” This article demonstrates the relevance in Florence Kelley speech due to the harsh labor that children must experience.
Without a doubt, author Florence Kelley uses emotional appeal along with ethics to persuade her audience of mothers to go and vote and end child labor suffering. Florence at the end of her speech finishes off with, “For the sake of the children, for the republic in which these children will vote after we are dead, and for the sake of our cause.” She does this by appealing to a sense of duty, and obligations along with a sense of responsibility and ownership towards mothers in the

Related Documents

  • Decent Essays

    In the speech, Florence Kelley uses rhetorical strategies such as imagery, appeal to pathos, and appeal to logos to convey to her audience that child labor is pitiful, unfair, and hard on kids. Kelley uses imagery to paint the disaster that is child labor. She starts off with, “Tonight while we sleep, several thousand little girls will be working in textile mills, all the night through…” When reading this, it is quote conveys how unfair it is for these young girls who work for us while we do nothing to help them, but sleep. Kelley also uses imagery to describe a law in Pennsylvania.…

    • 327 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Child labor, a topic that many of us often tend to forget about, that had a huge effect in the 20th century. Many people don’t understand the difference between child labor and child work. Child labor refers to the employment of children in any work industry that deprives children of their childhood, and interferes with their education. Child work, on the other hand, is when a child is working under safe and legal conditions. Florence Kelley uses logos and pathos to elucidate her point on why child labors conditions were so horrendous.…

    • 507 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Mother Jones: Fierce Fighter for Worker’s Rights, Judith P. Josephson says, “They would march the mill children all the way to the president of the United States—Theodore Roosevelt. Mother Jones wanted the president to get Congress to pass a law that would take children out of the mills, mines, and factories, and put them in school.” Mother Jones chose to bring attention to her noble cause with a tour of the country with many of the young children in the textile industry. She wanted to show the people of the United States what the dangers and unfair treatment did to the children and how immense the need for the rights of children working in industry was. In Mother Jones: Fierce Fighter for…

    • 964 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    How would you feel if you were to work eight hours and over while other people are sleeping? Do you approve or disapprove of child labor? Florence Kelley was a United States social worker and reformer who fought successfully for child labor laws and improved conditions for working women. She uses rhetorical strategies or devices to express her message about child labor to her audience. The rhetorical strategies or devices she used were: inclusive language, emotional language, and sarcasm.…

    • 335 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Brimmer 1 Paige Brimmer Mrs. King AP English 22 August 2015 United States social worker and reformer, Florence Kelley, in her speech at the National American Woman Suffrage Association in Philadelphia on July 22nd, 1905, illuminates her views on women and children’s rights. Kelly’s purpose is to enlighten the audience of the lack of rights present for these members of society. Kelly intentionally uses syntax, diction, and imagery to motivate the audience to alleviate these citizens. Kelly effectively uses syntax to establish a sense of trust between the audience and herself.…

    • 631 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Civil right’s movements often cause a variety of strong and influential leaders to come to light. Florence Kelley was a strong and influential leader during the Women’s Civil Rights movement; she spoke at the National American Women’s Suffrage Association in 1905 to persuade in favor of change for the greater and common good. In her speech, Kelley utilizes pathos, anaphora, and connotative diction to convey her claim that the injustices of child labor can be reformed by women attaining political power (such as the right to vote) and that it is their moral obligation to do so. Throughout her entire speech, Kelley applies pathos to inspire sympathy, feelings of guilt , and appeal to maternal instincts.…

    • 741 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Overall Florence Kelley’s speech is highly compelling and intriguing that it catches her audience’s attention to emit the same passion Kelley has for the reformation of child labor laws as well as the want for women to be enfranchised. Furthermore through her use of pathos and repetition Kelley is more able to get her point across to her…

    • 618 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Elizabeth Barrett Brown chastises the factory owners, also known as Captains of Industry, on their unfair and unrestricted use of child labor through her use of vivid diction and imagery in “Cry of the…

    • 717 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The role children have played in the history of America has changed drastically over the years. In most cases, for the better, but that is not true for all children. In the early years, children were put to work, some even as indentured servants, others alongside their parents. They were made to work long hours under bleak circumstances. The industrial revolution saw the continued abuse of children.…

    • 717 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Florence Kelley Speech

    • 195 Words
    • 1 Pages

    Delivering a powerful speech is not about the immediate gratification; it is about how one leaves an imprint in the audience’s minds, causing them to take a stance in the affair. Florence Kelley, a United States social worker, demonstrates this conception in her speech before the convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, when she advocates the need to ameliorate child labor laws. In doing so, she accentuates an argument that brings into account of who is in charge of reforming the harsh laws that deal with young, innocent children. This argument would allow her immediate audience-the women in attendance at the convention-to ponder how they would end child labor, if only they had the right to vote. However, Kelley was well…

    • 195 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    In her speech addressed to the National American Woman Suffrage Association, Florence Kelley reveals the dark truth of children who are underage working. Kelley reveals that not only are they working, but they are working tirelessly for the luxury of citizens. In her speech, she states facts about the amount of children working and where, reveals the horrible truth of the matter and plants guilt inside the audience, and asks questions that incite motivation to act upon child labor. Kelley influences her audience by making a call to action for the sake of the children.…

    • 95 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Mother Jones refused to take ‘no’ for an answer, so she asked the police to stay with them for lunch. Afterwards, the police let Mother Jones pass. Even though “... Mother Jones reached President Roosevelt, the secretary came out saying that President Roosevelt feels that child labor was an issue for individual states to solve” (Pinkerton Josephson). Mother Jones couldn’t press the case further and went home empty-handed. However, thirty-five years after the march of the mill children (in 1938), the federal government finally passed a child labor law (Pinkerton…

    • 967 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Good morning, I’m Florence Kelley, and I am working against child labor. Although i was born with nice living conditions, when I was a child my father would bring me to factories and see all the children working in harsh conditions, and getting injured. I want there to be children’s rights, i work for minimum wages, eight-hour work days, and against sweatshops. Because of the harsh conditions, children were getting major injuries. Child labor can lead to many negative effects.…

    • 123 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    These excerpts tell us that the people of England during the Industrial Revolution valued honest labor. They worked long hours (10-12 hours a day) in order to feed their families. Idlers and vagabonds were executed by the state. Work at this period of time was by hand and an introduction of machinery received massive rejection as it meant that people were going to lose their jobs. Formal education of kids was for the privileged few whereas the majority learned as they worked.…

    • 703 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Industrial Revolution took a huge impact on the 19th century, by giving the people opportunities to work in factories. But these type of situations not only gave men or women work, but children as well. By 1890, factory workers would only get very little minimum wages. At the end of the day, employer’s preferred child labor for many different reasons. Three good examples are children are a cheap source of labor, they would have more energy and a longer life span, so they would say.…

    • 666 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays