This is a challenging text to teach at the high school level. Teachers should approach The Pillowman with caution and deliberation; you would benefit from maintaining a consistent focus on the playwright's goals and motivation alongside the narrative content. Be flexible about offering alternative ways to participate and including content warnings, as the material has the potential to be disturbing to some students.
The thought questions in this lesson plan provide material and ideas that students can use to write short original essays and to develop their powers of analysis.
The questions provided for the final paper are most suitable for student essays. For the sake of improving their...