Both Mohammad and Hashem face great hardship in life; nonetheless, Hashem focuses on the difficulties while Mohammad appreciates living. Mohammad is blind but only once complains about his disability. In his moving monologue to the blind carpenter, Mohammad says that the misery of being blind is not being able to see God; nevertheless, he knows that God is invisible, and that he can see God with his hands and ears. The father is unlike his son in that he is a miserable man who only sees the negative in life. He sends Mohammad away from the village in the Iranian countryside to the city of Tehran to attend a school for the blind. At the end of the term, Mohammad's father reluctantly returns to pick up his son for the school holidays. He pleads with the school director to keep his son, but is forced to take Mohammad home to the village. Sadly, the father deems Mohammad a burden and a punishment inflicted upon him by God. He is a selfish man who fails to sympathize with the difficulties experienced by his son but focuses on his own problems. His fears that his mother will die, his daughters will marry and leave, and Mohammad is incompetent of caring for him. He hopes to court a relatively wealthy woman whom will produce a capable son. Unlike Mohammad's grandmother and two sisters who see Mohammad as a capable individual, Hashem considers him a burden and a hindrance, and seeks to rid himself of his son. Even though Mohammed's abilities at the local school are superior to those of his classmates and even though he is well liked by all, the father focuses on Mohammad's removal from the family. The father even sends Mohammad away to live with a blind carpenter with the hope that his son will learn the carpentry trade and become self-sufficient. The viewers understand that the father mainly seeks to rid himself of the responsibility his son imposes upon him. .
In spite of his inability to see God's world through his eyes, Mohammad connects with God through his hands and ears.