Rhetorical Devices Used In Florence Kelley's Speech About Child Labor

In Florence Kelley’s speech about child labor, she illustrates the reasons why children should not be working hours each day. Kelley develops ideas by shaving to the audience the backstory of child labor, and how cruel it is. Using exemplum, pathos, and hypophora, she provides evidence and shows her stance on the issue of child labor in order to show the audience that the laws and rules for child labor must be changed. Throughout her speech, Kelley speaks to the working class with a strong and compassionate tone. Kelley’s first rhetorical device used in her speech is exemplum. She uses many exempla throughout her entire speech, but one sentence stood out as she said, “North and South Carolina...working eleven hours at night.” (27-31). Using this particular exemplum tremendously supports her stance on child labor because it provides her audience with perspective on the hardships of working at such a young age. These children are robbed of their childhood and their sleep because the states they live in do not have a restriction on the hours a child works per day. Owners of the factories and shops the children work at abuse this non-restriction. Kelley’s use of exemplum greatly emphasizes her call to action to the audience; they must change current laws and terms if the states won’t budge first. The entirety of Kelly’s speech is an emotional …show more content…
Kelley’s use of hypophora develops a question that calls the audience to act upon the cause. She asks and answers, “What can we do… the feeling of children.” (85-91). By bringing up a question with a clear answer, Kelley’s transition from informing the audience to calling them to action is a success. The audience is now not only riled up by her previous evidence, they are also ready to take action for their cause. By introducing the ways the audience can make a difference in the form of answering herself, the purpose of Kelley’s speech is supported once