Florence Kelley Speech - Emily Dixon

What is the purpose/what is she trying to convince people of?

In her speech Florence Kelley speaks on the harshness of child labor laws. She was trying to convince those listening that the only way to stop child labor was to allow women the right to vote; specifically through her use of rhetorical appeals.

THEME

While using pathos Florence Kelley also uses logos to appeal to the logical side of her argument. Using this rhetorical question, " If the mothers and the teachers in Georgia could vote, would the Georgia Legislature have refused at every session for the last three years to stop the work in the mills of children under twelve years of age?” (Kelley, para. 8) implies the use of logic by the audience by using the word "if" to come up with an answer to her question. At the beginning of this quote she states, "If the mothers and teachers in Georgia could vote...", majority of the teachers at this time being women. Suggesting that in a logical sense women having the right to vote could help end child labor.

There is value in all life regardless of ones gender or age.

SOAPSTONE

Rhetorical Analysis of Florence Kelley Speech

SPEAKER - Florence Kelley

OCCASION - speech @ National American Woman Suffrage Association in Philly, PA

AUDIENCE - people attending, people of color/whites, men and women

PURPOSE - to convince the audience the only way to stop the harshness of child labor was to allow women the right to vote; specifically through her use of rhetorical appeals.

SUBJECT - the injustice of child labor, women's voting rights

TONE - passionate (speaks in a strong voice) Sympathetic (towards children)

EMILY DIXON

"While we sleep"

[Kelley, para. 3,4,5]

Once again, Florence Kelley appeals to the audiences emotional side using pathos in the form of an anecdote. “The children make our shoes in the shoe factories; they knit our stockings, our knitted underwear…They carry bundles of garments from the factories to the tenements, little beasts of burden, robbed of the school life that they may work for us” (Kelley, para. 9). Listing all the work that the children do for adults evokes a feeling of guilt that the audience shares. Also, showing how children are forced to live their lives due to the lack of child labor laws, which could be created/enforced if women could vote.

Throughout her speech Florence Kelley repeats the phrase "while we sleep" (Kelley, para. 3,4,5). This is an anaphora because of the fact that the phrase is repeated either at the beginning or end of several sentences throughout the speech. This repetition throughout the speech can also be seen as a motif. The phrase "while we sleep" identifies with the rhetorical appeal pathos because it adds to the emotion of guilt she wants the audience to feel; in the sense that, the children are out working while the adults are able to be at home resting and with loved ones. She uses this rhetorical device/motif, to imply that it is not a child's job to be working in such brutal and unsafe conditions while the adults sleep soundly. Saying that they need to come to the realization of the problems with child labor laws.