Rhetorical Analysis Of Speech By Florence Kelley

1108 Words5 Pages

On July 22, 1905, Florence Kelley delivered a passionate speech on child labor at the convention of the National Woman Suffrage Association in Philadelphia. Her primary audience for this speech was the social activists at this convention, while her secondary audience was all American citizens. Throughout her speech, Kelley uses a variety of rhetorical devices to encourage people to fight against child labor and to argue for women’s suffrage.
In the first half of Kelley’s speech, she employs a solemn tone as she describes the current condition of child labor in the United States. She begins with a statistic that is meant to shock her audience: “in this country, two million children under the age of sixteen years … are earning their own bread.” …show more content…

She explains that although the number of workers in all demographics have been increasing, only the number of young girls working has “double[d] from census period to census period.” Her anticipation of her opposition’s argument makes her appear to be more credible because it shows that she has an in depth knowledge of this issue. Additionally, this demonstrates that she has considered the opposing views, but still maintains that hers is more correct. The statistic also further emphasizes the need for reform since it demonstrates that the growth rate of female child laborers has become almost uncontrollably high. The orator also offers vivid descriptions of child laborers in order to arouse …show more content…

This is evidenced by the growth of small, often internet-based, media outlets that target a niche audience with a very specific ideology. For example, the online broadcast channel The Blaze mainly targets highly conservative millennials. By having these highly specific statements of opinion, people can only choose to affirm their beliefs and make them feel stronger about them. Thus, when statements of opinion are misused, the public becomes more divided in opinion and less open to compromising with other viewpoints. This can be seen today as increasingly opinionated news reporting has been a major factor in the growing political divide in the United States. Furthermore, it can prevent people from being open minded about issues and seeing the complexity in

Open Document