Rhetorical Analysis Of Mother Jones

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Recommended: Genesis of labor unions and industrial action

Unions have always been a pain in employers’ sides. From today to the 1910s, workers have tried to unionize for better conditions in their jobs. Today, people try to opt out of being in unions, avoiding the union’s dues but still reaping the rewards. That’s a long way away from what people experienced in the 1910s. During that time period, people were struggling to even be apart of a union. Some people would even risk their jobs to do it. In fact, the first worker’s strike was was during the the West Virginia Coal Wars. Coal Miners went on strike to advocate for better working conditions and better pay. At the helm was Mary Harris Jones, or Mother Jones as she was known. She fought for coal miner workers’ rights and helped them unionize by …show more content…

These cheers from the crowd reflect how engaged the audience is and demonstrate that they are ensnared in Jones’s rhetoric. She allows them to shout during her speeches because it pulls the audience more into the speech, validating and empowering them (Co-construction). She takes shouts from the crowd into her speech and either; affirms them or she denies them, and by doing so she adds to her own story (Co-construction). One of the best examples of this would be in the passage “There will be no property destroyed. (Cries of: “Not a bit.”) Not a bit, and if you want your property protected these miners will protect it for you (Speech)”. Jones takes the shout from the crowd and adds it to the next line in her speech. She also denies them, as in this selection “(Cries of: “Take him out.”) I don’t want him out, because I would have to carry him around (Speech).” By responding to these calls from the crowd, Jones continues to excite and draw in the crowd throughout the speech. This ultimately cultivates to the pinnacle of her speech towards the end where she makes her call to action via the crowd shouting in response to her calls at the Capitol building. These calls and shouts from the crowd demonstrate Jones’s ability to rouse the crowd to her

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