Rhetorical Analysis of Florence Kelley's Speech for Child Labor (Essay Sample)

In her speech in the convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, Florence Kelley sets the tone to be very derogatory and contemptuous in order to evoke a sense of shame and regret, to persuade her audience to change the laws concerning child labor. Florence Kelley is very derogatory in her speech so she can persuade the audience to stand up against child labor. She criticizes the long hours children have to work and the influx of little girls in the working place. She speaks how states like New Jersey passed a law stating that children fourteen years old and older can work all night long. “Now, therefore, in New Jersey, boys and girls, after their 14th birthday, enjoy the pitiful privilege of working all night long.” She gives another example citing “In Pennsylvania, until last May it was lawful for children, thirteen years of age, to work twelve hours at night” meaning that children by the age of thirteen spend half of their day working for companies and manufacturers. Florence Kelley includes the fact that in the past decades, young girls by the ages of fourteen through twenty have increased in joining the workforce. “No other portion of the wage earning class increased so rapidly from decade to decade as the young girls from fourteen to twenty years”. More girls are forced to become the breadwinners in their family and are coerced into working for long, grueling hours.

Florence Kelley becomes bitter in her speech towards states changing their laws in order for children to work in companies and offices at a younger age and longer hours in harsh conditions. She supports her statement by mentioning how states like New Jersey changed their laws so children can work longer. “Last year New Jersey took a long backward step. A good law was repealed which had required women and [children] to stop work at six in the evening and at noon on Friday.” She also speaks of Pennsylvania and how it is legal in the state for children to work by the age of thirteen years old. “In Pennsylvania, until last May it was lawful for children, 13 years of age, to work twelve hours at night.” She also shows concerns in the working conditions that children have to work in stating “Several thousand little girls will be working in textile mills, all the night through, in the deafening noise of the spindles and the looms spinning and weaving cotton and wool, silks and ribbons”.

In conclusion, Florence Kelley tries to appeal to the audiences sense of pity and shame in order to persuade them to make a change concerning child labor. She sets the tones to be bitter and derogatory to enhance her speech and be more persuasive in ending child labor.