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Florence Kelley's Speech On Child Labor

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Throughout history child labor has been a serious issue especially during the late 18th century. However in 1905, Florence Kelley argues in her speech that child labor needs to stop because it is inhuman. Florence Kelley was a United States social worker and reformer who fought successfully for child labor laws and improved conditions for working women. Florence Kelley believed that children should not be forced to work at such young age for such a long period of time. Kelley uses literary devices such as pathos, logos, ethos, and diction to express opposal to children working in factories. Florence Kelley is able to get the reader's attention in her speech by using figurative language. Amongst the figurative devices she constantly imagery …show more content…

She created sympathy through sentences like “Tonight while we sleep, several thousand little girls will be working in textile mills, all the night through.”. In addition, she established some facts that pertained to that time period such as “ We have, in this country, two million children under the age of sixteen years who are earning their bread”. Kelley is able to express credibility when she states “ We do not wish this… For myself, I shall use this power in every possible way until the right to the ballot is granted” The speaker delivers her speech by the usage of colloquial diction. She uses terms that could be understood by the general audience such as “tiny children” and “little girls”. Throughout her speech, Kelley expressed her passionate objection towards child labor and referred to the audience as “we”, as a way of making them feel united to the cause. The purpose of using this type of diction was so she could convey her message more clearly for those child workers she speaks of, as well as the lower and less educated

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