The Pillowman

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of murder (including child victims), child abuse, sexual abuse, suicide, and graphic violence (including police brutality).

Katurian sits in the interrogation room with Ariel and Tupolski, quickly writing his formal confession as the officers read it over his shoulder. He writes that he buried the third child where his parents are buried, near a wishing well by his house. In exchange for the confession, Ariel and Tupolski agree to save Katurian’s stories in his case file. Ariel is particularly hostile to Katurian after the confession, explaining that he has a personal hatred for child abusers. Despite this, Katurian somehow knows that he can trust Ariel to keep his stories safe. As Ariel is about to hook Katurian up to a battery to electrocute him as a form of torture, Katurian guesses that Ariel was sexually abused by his parents. Tupolski and Ariel are taken aback by how Katurian was able to guess this correctly. Tupolski reveals that he was also a victim of child abuse at the hands of his violent father. Katurian presses Ariel for details about his father, and Tupolski tells him that Ariel murdered his father by suffocating him with a pillow.