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  • Essay / Critical Examination of Kelley's Speech at Awsa

    In the late 1800s and early 1900s, child labor was widely used. Due to low wages at that time, families had to send their children, some as young as 6, to work in factories with dangerous conditions, especially for children that young. Also at this time, women still did not have the right to vote, making their goal of limiting or eliminating child labor even more difficult. In order to defend child labor laws, Florence Kelley first establishes herself as the equal of her audience, the National American Woman Suffrage Association, then makes them feel guilty for not being informed or taking action and angry at the state. legislatures for not passing the laws. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get the original essay Florence Kelley first establishes herself as the equal of her audience. Because Kelley and her audience are all against child labor, what she says reflects what they all think. She repeatedly uses the pronoun “we,” implying that she is one of them and that her ideas are the same as theirs (115). Instead of excluding the audience and giving the impression that she doesn't have the same ideas as them, she includes them with the word "we" and thus allows them to agree with what she said. Kelley also discusses the fact that “mothers and teachers,” or virtually all women, do not have the right to vote (116). This allows the audience to realize that she truly connects with them and is equal to them because not all of them have the opportunity to vote for or against laws. Once she establishes herself as an equal with the audience and is fighting for the same cause, she then leads her audience to understand the cause better. After establishing herself as the equal of her audience, Florence Kelley then continues by making her audience feel guilty for not being informed or taking action against child labor. At the very beginning of her speech, she begins by stating the statistical fact that "two million children under the age of sixteen" work and that if they slept comfortably in their beds, "several thousand little girls" would work all day. night in factories (115). Kelley first tries to make her audience aware of the harsh realities of what children go through every night. After taking a quick look at what they're going through, she goes on to say that they weren't acting against child labor, but that "if mothers and teachers," or women in general, could vote, maybe they can do something about it. By talking about not being able to make changes at that time, they then feel guilty for not having thought about helping the children before. In addition to not knowing about child labor and not taking action on it, Kelley also makes syllogistic reasoning. She first assumes that "children" do all this work, including making shoes and knitting clothes, then goes on to say that mothers buy these products made by children, concluding that they are supporting the child labor and fuel their work (116). This conclusion is used to blame the public for being part, if not all, of the reason why children were still working late into the night in factories. Leaving the audience feeling guilty for their actions or lack thereof, Kelley then attempts to direct his audience toward anger toward state legislatures. In addition to the guilt she previously instilled in her audience, Florence Kelley urges her audience to be in..