By: Bekah Davis

1. Is there a limit to freedom of speech? Should art ever be censored?            

• Yes, there is a limit to freedom of speech. You can say whatever you want to anyone, example, “trump is an imbecile”  I’m allowed to say that even if it isn’t nice. But if i say “ I want to slit trumps throat” I can get in trouble for that and that is my limit of freedom of speech. Same thing with art, I can make a meral that is supporting pro-life by a baby going up to heaven from an abortion clinic which gets the point across without offending many. But if i were to make one where you see in detail what happens and of the dead fetus. That should be a limit.

• 2. How does our past influence our present?

• Our past can influence our present in many ways, first of all you can’t move forward while still looking back. Therefore not being able to move forward alters your mood and emotions, you’re still feeling the hurt and sadness of the past in the future and you can’t move on and be happy because of it.

3.  What is the role of police in society? Of the artist? Are the mutually exclusive?

• The role in police should be to protect and serve us citizens, unfortunately that is not always the case. Sometimes cops are crooked and treat the innocent cruelty, therefore the good cops become rare and cast away by the bad cops. Similarly the artist got dealt a pair of crooked cops it seems at first, they torture him, yell at him, treat him like garbage, even tho he dies in the end his stories were kept alive and that’s all katurian really wanted.

4.Do violent acts exist in a vacuum? Or are they irretrievably connected to the world around them?

• It could be both, it could be just you that influences your violent actions. Or I could be from one of your peers, from video games, or even songs. You don’t know how much things and people around you can influence your thoughts and decisions.

5. Consider Katurian stories. What messages do they send? Both positive and negative?

• Katurains stories are dark but have a message that’s saying there’s good in every bad. Like in the pillowman, all these children are dying but because there life is going to be full of horror and sadness. He was just saving them the depressing lives they would grow up to live.

6. In what ways are Tupolski and Ariel “good guys”? In what way are they “bad guys”

• Ariel and Tupolski are good guys sometimes. Their good because they put away child molesters and murderers and bad people. But their bad because they torture innocent people sometimes and they just don’t care. However Ariel and Tupolski both said they were going to burn katurians stories anyway but after they shoot him ariel still keeps the stories in his file, Ariel had a change of heart.

7.  Is katurian completely sympathetic? In what ways? In what ways not?

• Katurian is sympathetic to his brother and to the ways his brother killed those children. He seems very sympathetic at first but then when he kills his brother that kinda all goes away until he wants his stories to be saved then he becomes sympathetic to Ariel and tupolski.

8. Is Michael wholly responsible for his actions alone?

• No, I don’t believe Michael is wholly responsible because he is mentally challenged therefore he allows others to affect his actions, meaning him listening to Katurians stories encouraged him to do the things he did. As wrong as it seems I believe the stories his brother read to him helped him developed this sense of wanting to act out the stories in an angry and violently way. Or it could just be the fact that he was tortured for seven years by his parents.

9. Are Katurians priorities correct in your opinion?

• Yes, I believe Katurians priorities are correct. He kills his parents because they are torturing his little brother ( that seems like a good reason) then he takes care of his brother until his brother kills these kids and drags Katurian into it but even then he is willing to do anything to protect his brother. He didn’t want him to be executed so he killed his brother and took the blame for everything. I feel like Katurians got a pretty good head on his shoulders. Or did…

10. Is katurian wholly responsible for the events of the story?

• This is a tricky question. Well yes and no. Micheal says it’s all his fault and that could be understood because Michael is mentally challenged and he will let others affect his decisions so yes katurian could be held responsible.  But also a no, because he did everything he could to keep his brother safe, he could have never predicted micheal using those stories as ways to kill.

11. What does the pillowman say about the responsibilities of artist for perpetuating violence?

• The pillowman is pretty much asking does the actions around us in society affect the decision we make. For example, does GTA make us want to steal a car and see how many people I can hit? No, but it could give me the idea to. The things around us that we see, hear, and do can affect the way we think. If we see someone hitting someone over something dumb we might eventually do the same thing without even knowing it. Our brain picks things up that we ourselves are oblivious to. We could self consciously be harming other from things we watch and think it’s okay to act out.

12. What does the pillowman say about freedom of speech or intellectual freedom?

• Like I said in the question “Is there a limit to freedom of speech?” There is a limit and that’s what the pillowman says about it to. You’re allowed to say whatever you want but as soon as it becomes harmful ( like katurians stories) they can looked at as threats. So katurian having the ability to write about such horrible things especially about children, it makes him a target.

13. What does the pillowman. Say about how society treats and reacts to violence?

• I see in the pillowman that society treats and reacts to violence with more violence. The cops for insistence, they torture them because they killed these kids, they committed a violent crime and their punishment is violence. Same in society, you hurt someone they hurt you back. Like Ghandi said “ an eye for an eye will make the whole world blind”