Florence Kelly essay - Grade: A PDF

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1 A.P. English Language and Composition 30 March 2016 Rhetorical Analysis Essay Influential social worker and reformer Florence Kelley effectively uses her skills of rhetoric to address the convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association in 1905 for the dual purpose of gaining attention for the inhumanity of child labor and of explaining the necessity of women’s suffrage. Throughout her speech, she makes her calls to action very clear, trying to motivate the women around her. Kelley combines the subjects of child labor and women’s suffrage, creatively forcing their connection in the eyes of the audience. Women’s suffrage is needed because, without the vote, little change can happen. Florence Kelley utilizes various rhetorical techniques and rhetorical appeals to persuade her audience to help end unfair child labor and help them understand the importance of the vote. Kelley’s word choice and use of strategies like exemplification help her connect with her audience to prove her main arguments. She begins the speech off with the first person plural to form an immediate link with the audience; now that the audience feels the connection, they are more inclined to listen to her ideas. She continues with the use of “we” and “us” to maintain this connection throughout the speech. Kelley’s most evident rhetorical technique is exemplification. In nearly every paragraph, she references specific states all around the United States with the issues that the states are failing to fix. Not only does this prove her research capabilities and intellect, but the exemplification also forms a better connection between the audience and the subject. Since the convention has members from all of the country, references specific states helps the audience understand

2 because they are likely to have a familiarity with at least one of the places. Kelley also adds rhetorical effectiveness by building up to a separate issue. Although starting with only child labor, she then furthers the idea with the necessity of the vote to end such issues. Bringing the entire speech together, she goes back to child labor issues with a call to action that clearly tells the women what they can and must do for the cause. While the rhetorical techniques are necessary to the speech, Kelley mainly uses rhetorical appeals to motivate the audience. Through the use of pathos, logos, and ethos, Florence Kelley completes the effectively proves her points by completing the rhetorical triangle and fully connects the audience to the speaker and the subject. Kelley has automatic ethos as a successful social worker and reformer, widely known throughout the country. However, she also builds her ethos through her clarity and intelligence. While her ethos is important to the argument she makes, Kelley relies heavily on logos that in turn create pathos. Every paragraph includes facts and statistics that are so shocking and upsetting that pathos forms without much extra explanation from the speaker. For example, as Kelley discusses the horrors in some southern states, she adds, “and while we sleep little white girl will be working tonight in the mills in those states, working eleven hours at night.” This sentence, while factual, appeals to motherly instincts or sympathy that audience feels. Also, in a time of very obvious racial distinctions and tensions, the use of the word “white” to describe the young girls is another way of making the audience feel sorry for the children. She uses a lot of parallel structures in her description of the what the girls are doing, showing the hard work that they do every day. This also is an appeal to emotion, especially because it directly relates the women at the convention to the children. She also clearly sets up a

3 plan of action that the women can do without the vote, making sure that everyone feels the guilt and responsibility to help. Florence Kelley’s speech connects child labor with women’s suffrage to make every woman at the convention feel the need to help those who cannot help themselves. Her use of rhetorical techniques effectively prove her argument that ending child labor and gaining the vote are both extremely important, necessary, and interconnected. The completion of the rhetorical triangle fully connects the speaker, subject, and audience....