The opening sequence with the authoritarian teacher and his students sets up the basic conflict of the story- what will happen if rules are not followed. Our protagonist, Ahmed, is deeply impacted by when he sees his friend, Nematzedah, cry as the teacher belittles him for an accidental misplacing of the book. As soon we find out along with Ahmed that Nematzedah’s with him we understand that it was imperative that it must be returned or he will be expelled. We see the moment when he sits still after finding out the notebook, the audience can sense the feeling of dread Ahmed feels. He wants to explain it to his mother but his mother doesn’t listen and keeps repeating “He has to do his homework in the notebook”, which gives us the sense of trauma that the character had felt earlier and how it has conditioned him. The mother here also acts like an authoritarian figure who threatens to hit him if he does not do his homework even after hearing that it is Ahmed’s mistake. But here Ahmed’s morality inspires him to even go against his mother’s orders and in an act of defiance, he runs out of the home in the titular search for his friend’s home.

The journey has many obstacles as Ahmed tries to get directions in a completely new area. Everyone tries to help him but none gives a proper answer. All the answers feel twisted and vague which confuses him more. His strong determination makes him go to every place asking for his friend and even making a frail old woman help him. With his grandfather, “ordering” to get cigarettes even though he didn’t need one just to discipline him, shows the political subtext as Iran was under an authoritarian rule. The entire conversation paints a picture of the political turmoil of that era. Even though it doesn’t seem to be an essential part of the narrative, it gives us a bigger picture. Ahmed starts to follow a man who thinks will lead him to his friend but it was a failure too. It starts to darken as his hopes to find his friend also is vanishing. He finds an old man who tries to help him find Nematzedah since Ahmed missed him at his house 5 minutes ago. Here the conversation as to how his doors, which he made, are being replaced without finding any fault hints at the subtext of the western influence on the Iranian culture at the cost of their own.

A sense of culture being faded away and through it a deep sense of sadness can be felt in the characters. People abandon their culture at the drop of the hat for a “better” view without even knowing about the reason why they are adapting to it. Each society needs to change but it doesn’t remove the fact that it brings out sadness. In the end, he gives up and goes back home. Even after the tiring day his determination, which many people misinterpret as his stubbornness, drives him to do both homework and save his friend in the end. The morality, stubbornness, and defiance against authority make Ahmed’s character a representation of the society trying to fight against an authoritarian government and a foreign influence in their culture. His journey is no less than the adventures of epic stories fighting dragons and such but here these obstacles are replaced by people with old-fashioned views and ways of upbringing. In the end, when we see Nematzedah being praised even though he didn’t do the homework, we can feel the victory of camaraderie and the protagonist’s moral values.