The other factory workers find Simon to be a discreet, taciturn employee. Conscientiously carrying out the same repetitive tasks day after day, people could easily believe that Simon leads a dull and ordinary life. They'd be wrong. In his childhood, he caused his sister's disability and he is now plagued by guilt. Simon and his sister live together in a strangely enclosed kind of way. She is reduced to a vegetative state, a captive and recluse in her bedroom. He is part-executioner, part-guardian angel.