I believe that "Buckwheat" is an effective essay because it shows his change in perspective from the beginning to the end. In the beginning of the essay, the writer seen Buckwheat as nothing more than a play thing to him. He was just "a stupid n-word" as he stated in the essay. Like what Kevin said in his post, when the writer saw what his brother and friend were doing, he decided to join in because his brother was doing it. As they tortured the poor boy, the writer thought nothing of it, until that tiny piece of asphalt hit the innocent child. In that moment, the writer 's whole look on life changed. Buckwheat was no longer a thing that they could play with, he was a human.