A boy, raised by loving parents who encouraged him to write, wrote happy stories for many years. However, at nights he began to hear sounds of torture from the next room, and as a result he began to write more disturbing stories. One night, a note is slipped under the door, claiming that the boy's brother has been tortured nightly for seven years as part of an artistic experiment to get the boy to become a great writer. He breaks down the door, only to find his parents, who were playing a trick on him, just pretending to be torturing a child. However, when he returns years later, he discovers his brother's dead body hidden under the mattress, clutching the manuscript of a beautiful story, better than any of his, which he burns. Later in Act II Katurian tells Michal that in the story, the character Michal was the true "writer" of the title, whereas his own character was merely the brother.
The Pillowman" 8 Dec. 2012. 8 Dec. 2012 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pillowman>.
