In the very early 20th century, the United States started to industrialize their country, many jobs began to open up. Instead of children going to school they would go work, as soon as they were the appropriate age back then which was about four years old, they were qualified from jobs like working on the farm to working in the factories. The word that defines this act is child labor, this was a very controversial issue that many people had wanted to reform.
A reformer of the name Florence Kelley had recognized this issue and had gave a speech before the convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association in Philadelphia on the 22nd of July, 1905 to fight against child labor. Florence Kelley had used many rhetorical strategies throughout her speech, to convey that child labors law are unlawful in to her audience.
To begin with, in the speech Kelley uses many emotional appeals to connect with the audiences principles of morality. Kelley asserts “tonight while we sleep, several thousand little girls will be working in textile mills” which enhances guilt to the audience because they have no other option except to work and make “silks and ribbons for us to buy”. She intensifies the guilt by contrasting the terrible conditions that these children are put into and luxurious lifestyle many others get to live. She also brings up how these children that are working make “our shoes in the shoe factories” and “spin and weave our cotton underwear” to feel more empathy.
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She makes the people who purchase these items feel responsible because they the consumers are the people that benefit from all of the children’s work. This generates a massive amount of grief from her audience, causing them to stop and think about all of the suffering they let happen just for their own selfishness, as Kelley states the children are “the beast of burden”. She also describes how the children were “robbed of school life” and “enjoying the pitiful privilege of working all night long” which makes the sorrow that the audience have for the kids expand. This the way Kelley uses emotional appeals to connect with her audiences principles of morality.
Finally, in the speech Kelly uses the rhetorical question to create her argument in which allows her to be able to states solutions to fix the problem. She implements the rhetorical question in a parallel structure throughout her essay, for instance she states “In Alabama”,”In Georgia”, “In New Jersey”, and“In Pennsylvania” to show the similar unfairness of laws in the country. To maximize more effectiveness on the audience, Kelley states the facts of child labor before each rhetorical question.
The strategy that Kelley uses of presenting the many facts of child labor, and then after the facts asking a rhetorical question pressures the audience to care about what she is saying. Additionally, when challenging the state of New Jersey in her speech, Kelley calls the work the girls have to do a “pitiful privilege”. The literary device she uses is an oxymoron which explains the work of the children as a privilege because they are of the right age to be able to work all night long. The reason she does this was to show the inequality of the laws, and the hypocrisy of the state of New Jersey. This is how Kelley uses the rhetorical question to convey her message that child labor acts are unlawful.
In conclusion, Kelly persuades the audience whom she’s giving a speech to that child labor acts are unlawful. Florence Kelley persuades her audience by appealing to the audience emotionally and uses the rhetorical question to open up the audience mind and make them actually think about the cruelty of child labor laws.
