Ambits of Moral Judgement: Of Pain, Empathy and Redemption in J.M. Coetzee's Age of Iron‪.‬

Summary This article explores the structure of empathy in Age of Iron, and argues that the novel exposes the horrors of oppression constructed solely on the idea of the victims' perceived difference to the self-appointed master race or class. Coetzee not only raises awareness of the dilemma of morally conscious individuals in our increasingly fractured and violent society; more particularly he sketches the problem of pain and the challenge it poses to the individual. While it is impossible for an individual to stop pain or suffering entirely, she can redeem herself from its Medusan face by a leap of empathy, and by keeping the memory of the oppressed alive. In this way she not only bears testimony for the victims, but also becomes one with them.