Damnation and Redemption in Coetzee's Age of Iron Marizanne Linde College

In J.M Coetzee’s Age of Iron, Mrs Elizabeth Curren recounts the life-altering events of her last days battling cancer in a letter to her estranged daughter. The novel is set in Cape Town, South Africa in 1986-89 - a time of division, injustice and revolution. Mrs Curren, who has lived a relatively quiet life, becomes entangled in the brutalities faced by her servant’s family and community after she takes Mr Vercueil, a homeless man with a loyal dog, into her home. Throughout this time, Mrs Curren undergoes a drastic metamorphosis from an indifferent, isolated old woman, to someone who actively engages in the world around her. This change rescues her from a solipsistic damnation, and grants her personal redemption and peace. She re-evaluates her fears and beliefs regarding love, her sense of being, her interpersonal relationships and her country - and through understanding, surrender and acceptance, she is able to redeem herself.

Mrs Curren is portrayed as a woman capable of a deep and sincere emotion, and the novel itself is “conceived as a catalogue of love.” (Yeoh, 2003, p. 3) Through intense reflection and experiences with those around her, her love evolves from being felt exclusively for her daughter, to one which...