Descriptive Strategies In Melissa Hicks's 'High Price Of Butter'

Melissa Hicks masterfully employs descriptive writing strategies both to establish and to develop her main arguments in “The High Price of Butter.” Hicks chooses not to begin with the story of her 14-year-old self learning to appreciate hard work and sacrifice. Instead, she begins with a contemporary moment in which her adult self “stand[s] under the harsh white lights of the dairy case” comparing the price of margarine and butter (Hicks, 2015, p. 182). At first this organizational strategy threw me for a loop: I didn’t expect Hicks to detail her family’s homestead, her anticipation for a horse, her initial disappointment in Francis Mary, or her growing appreciation for the efforts (and the rewards) her family took. I expected the adult narrator to cut sharply in and tell me about the value of hard work, rather than all this showing. But show she did.
Throughout, I’m treated to descriptions -- such as “disappear into my room . . , wrap myself in jackets and blankets, and put on thick gloves” (Hicks, 2015, p. 186) -- which bring to life the struggling-to-make-ends-meet existence Hicks’ family lead. This description of how cold their home is (of how they don’t pay to heat the house) is a more powerful and effective choice than if Hicks had told me
In drawing parallels to explain my concerns over subjectively evaluating the effectiveness of Hicks’ style, I should consider my sewing projects. I’ve produced dozens of wardrobe pieces which take countless hours of painstaking measurements and cuts and stitches and corrections. With every piece there come two moments: one, when I want to give up, and one, when I vow to never undertake another project. And yet by the end, I am grateful that my efforts have produced something for my enjoyment. And like Hicks, I understand that the value “is more than a price tag” (2015, p.