Age of Iron: Chapter 3 Summary & Analysis

One night, Mrs. Curren wakes up to a telephone call from a woman who breathlessly demands to speak with Florence. Mrs. Curren is unsure of exactly what is wrong, but Bheki seems to be involved. Mrs. Curren offers to take Florence to Guguletu to search for her son. She wakes up Vercueil and explains the situation, urging him to join. However, Vercueil has no interest in getting up to look for Bheki, so she is left on her own to guide Florence.

Mrs. Curren wants to help Florence but is scared of what she will find in Guguletu. She knows the violence has only gotten worse in recent days. Mrs. Curren, Florence, and Florence’s other children get into the car and head toward Guguletu. On the way there, the police pull over Mrs. Curren and ask her to state her business. Mrs. Curren lies and says she is just taking Florence and her kids home. The lie works and the policemen let them continue on their way.

When they arrive in Guguletu, Florence takes Mrs. Curren, Hope, and Beauty inside a house. There, she introduces Mrs. Curren to one of her cousins, Mr. Thabane, who will act as their escort. They leave Hope and Beauty behind to go looking for Bheki. Mr. Thabane says he is not sure exactly where Bheki has gone. He also warns them that the place they are going is essentially a warzone and will be quite dangerous.

After a quick car ride, Mr. Thabane, Florence, and Mrs. Curren get out of the car and slowly make their way through a muddy street. There is chaos all around them, as the ground is littered with trash and buildings burn in the distance. Everyone Mrs. Curren sees looks beaten down and hopeless. Mrs. Curren and her companions come upon a scene where a woman is going in and out of a burning house to save her belongings. However, some men stop her—presumably the same men who set the house on fire—after her second trip. The scene turns into an all-out brawl between the perpetrators and an angry mob that has gathered around to witness the chaos. A stampede ensues, and Mrs. Curren struggles to get away.

Mrs. Curren falls to the ground and hears gunshots in the distance. She has lost all sense of where she is and feels overwhelmingly hopeless. Mr. Thabane sees her in the mud and helps her to her feet. Then, he asks her to follow him. Mrs. Curren does as he asks, and they make the way back to her car. There, she sees a young man trying to start her car and orders him to step away from it. Mr. Thabane tells Mrs. Curren that the man is one of Bheki’s friends. However, Mrs. Curren no longer cares about finding Bheki; she just wants to leave Guguletu.

Rather than take Mrs. Curren to her car, Mr. Thabane argues with her. He tells her to think of all the people who call Guguletu home and have to live in it day in and day out. Mrs. Curren agrees that the circumstances are terrible, but she’s not sure what she is supposed to do about it. She tries to find the words to describe how horrible it is, but she does not know what to say. Mr. Thabane suggests that her inability to articulate the horrors of the situation is a moral failure on her part.

Mr. Thabane takes Mrs. Curren back to Florence, and Mrs. Curren asks Florence if she has located Bheki. Florence nods her head without saying a word and then steps away from Mrs. Curren. A small crowd has assembled nearby, and Mr. Thabane works his way to the front of it to see what they are staring at. A minute later, he grabs Mrs. Curren and tells her to come look. Mrs. Curren sees a group of bodies leaning up against a wall, one of which is Bheki, his eyes and mouth still open in a permanent look of horror.

Shaken, Mrs. Curren returns to her vehicle to find someone has smashed her windshield with a rock. She tries to get the image of the bodies out of her mind but cannot. Nearby, she encounters a police officer, with whom she briefly discusses the situation. The officer tells her that the situation is more complex than she may realize, and it is unclear who is responsible. After her conversation with the officer, Mrs. Curren goes home, permanently changed by the day’s events.

Mrs. Curren sleeps through the entire next day. When she finally wakes up, she is an emotional wreck. She does not know what has become of her life or South Africa. She thinks about her childhood and how much things have changed for the worse. Cold, tired, and lonely, Mrs. Curren asks Vercueil to come join her in bed. However, Vercueil ignores her and stays where he is.

The following day, the weather is pleasant, and Vercueil drives Mrs. Curren around. When they return home, Vercueil sees two women at her house. One of the women is Florence’s sister, who has come to fetch Florence’s possessions. Mrs. Curren tries to tell Florence’s sister how sorry she is about what happened and writes her a check to give to Florence.

The day after Florence’s sister comes to the house, Vercueil asks Mrs. Curren whether “today is the day.” Something about the enigmatic questions appears to excite him. Mrs. Curren answers the question affirmatively, but then says the real answer is “no.” She says that Vercueil is referencing her plan to commit suicide, which she ultimately decided not to go through with. However, Mrs. Curren does come close to taking her own life. She dresses up nicely for the occasion and tries to mentally prepare herself. When she tells Vercueil that she is having second thoughts, Vercueil offers to drive her around in the car while she thinks about it.

As they drive, Mrs. Curren contemplates how difficult it is to end one’s own life, even when one is deeply suffering and there is no hope of getting better. She talks to Vercueil about how lonely she has become since her mother’s death and how about how she fears for her country’s future. Everything and everyone that once meant something to her has either perished or gone away, leaving her profoundly unhappy.

While the car is stopped, Vercueil gives Mrs. Curren a box of matches and tells her to end her life. When he sees Mrs. Curren is hesitant, he suggests that she drive off a cliff instead. Ultimately, Mrs. Curren decides she wants to live a little longer, so she asks Vercueil to take her home. On the way home, Vercueil asks Mrs. Curren for money to buy alcohol. She gives it to him and when he comes back, he tries to convince her to get drunk. Mrs. Curren resists, but Vercueil insists that the booze is medicine that will help her.

Mrs. Curren gives in and starts drinking. As they drive home, she feels the alcohol loosen her tongue, and she starts trying to tell Vercueil about what happened to Bheki. This leads to a monologue from Mrs. Curren about the suffering of Black people in South Africa. She cannot believe how poorly the government treats Black people without any repercussions. She has never seen so much suffering and dying in her life. Rather than respond to anything she says, Vercueil encourages Mrs. Curren to keep drinking.

Mrs. Curren continues their one-sided conversation. She worries about what is happening to the youth of South Africa. They are growing up fast in a violent world with no hope for a brighter future. She does not see any way out for them or for herself after what she has seen. Again, rather than directly address anything Mrs. Curren says, Vercueil tells her to drink more.

Angry that Vercueil will not tackle these issues head on, Mrs. Curren rejects his offer. Vercueil insists that she should use alcohol to numb her pain. In response, Mrs. Curren furiously orders him to get out of her car. Vercueil does as she asks but takes the keys with him and throws them into a nearby bush. Mrs. Curren goes searching for the keys but is unable to locate them.

Now alone, Mrs. Curren thinks about her daughter in America. She wonders if she should have gone to visit her, even though her daughter never asked her to come. The last time she spoke to her daughter over the phone, it was hardly a memorable conversation. Her daughter encouraged her to rest and get better, and Mrs. Curren assured her that she would.

Because she has not told her daughter the truth, Mrs. Curren is stuck trusting Vercueil. Mrs. Curren knows that her daughter will never get the truth if Vercueil fails to send the letters to her, which is a distinct possibility. Mrs. Curren decides that all she can do is trust Vercueil and hope for the best. She also thinks about how much her life has turned upside down since first encountering Vercueil, and she wonders how much he has to do with it.

Mrs. Curren also thinks about her daughter’s departure from South Africa. When she left, her daughter told Mrs. Curren that she should not ask her to return to the country until it has improved considerably. Mrs. Curren decided to do exactly as her daughter asked. However, now she feels bitter about agreeing to the deal. Because she does not want her daughter to return to South Africa, Mrs. Curren is forcing herself to suffer and die alone. She openly accuses her daughter of being the cause of her misery.

A few days pass, and Mrs. Curren catches a cold, which causes her to significant pain. At this point, Vercueil has disappeared again, so she is left on her own. Realizing she needs groceries, she ventures out and manages to get what she needs from the grocery store. However, on the way home, she feels faint from the pain and has to lean up against a lamppost. People ignore her even though she clearly needs help, and she spills much of the food she just purchased. However, eventually she manages to make it home on her own.

That night, Mrs. Curren wakes up to the sound of dogs barking. Downstairs, she hears someone going through her kitchen and wonders if Vercueil has returned. When she goes downstairs, she sees Bheki’s friend in her kitchen. Bheki’s friend asks Mrs. Curren where he can find Bheki. Frightened, Mrs. Curren calls out for Vercueil. However, Vercueil does not come. After a moment, Mrs. Curren calms down and has a conversation with Bheki’s friend about what he wants.

Bheki’s friend asks her for money so he can return to Guguletu, but Mrs. Curren tells him to stay away because it is a warzone, and he is likely to get killed. Bheki’s friend dismisses her concerns and insists he must get back. Mrs. Curren says she understands his frustration but insists that he stay. She tells him that he must try to resist the violent life that society has seemingly forced upon him. She does not want to tell him what to do—largely because she knows he will not listen—but she promises him more violence is not the answer.

From the moment she first met him, Mrs. Curren disliked Bheki’s friend. However, she offers him food and a warm bed because she fears what will happen to him if she lets him go off on his own. Ultimately, the boy decides to stay in Florence’s room. Then, Mrs. Curren takes a moment to ponder the letter she’s writing to her daughter, which has taken a more abstract tone. She also writes about disturbing dreams that she thinks she is having because of her pain medication. She gets the sense that her life will soon come to an end. Because Vercueil still is not back and she cannot take care of herself, Mrs. Curren decides to call social services to get someone to help deliver her groceries. She does not plan on straying far from her house from now on.

The following day, Bheki’s friend asks Mrs. Curren for antiseptic because he fell off his bike and hurt his head. Mrs. Curren wonders what really happened. She tends to the wound and asks the boy about himself. The boy tells her that his name is John, though Mrs. Curren knows that John is not his real name. John tells Mrs. Curren that he wants to go home. Mrs. Curren reminds him of the situation in Guguletu and how it is unlikely that he has a home left. Ultimately, she convinces John to stay rather than return to the warzone that is Guguletu.

Later the same day, Mrs. Curren catches John doing something suspicious in Florence’s room. She watches as he removes a baseboard and stashes something in the floor. She worries that John is hiding weapons in her home, which will get both of them in trouble with the authorities. Mrs. Curren calls Mr. Thabane and expresses her concerns about a possible weapon hidden in her house. She asks Mr. Thabane if someone can come and retrieve John. Mr. Thabane offers vague assurances that someone will come for John eventually. However, he refuses to give her an exact time.

Mrs. Curren and Mr. Thabane’s conversation turns philosophical as they discuss their differing perspectives on comradeship, young people’s behavior, and the violence in South Africa. Mr. Thabane sees comradeship as a noble quality and is glad that people like John want to fight for their fallen friends. Meanwhile, Mrs. Curren thinks that such loyalty will inevitably end in more violence. Their conversation ends with uncertainty. Mrs. Curren feels sympathy for John and the youth in South Africa and she cries after she is done speaking with Mr. Thabane.

The following morning, Mrs. Curren hears a commotion outside, which initially makes her think that Vercueil is back. However, after listening for a moment, she realizes the voices she hears are speaking Afrikaans. She gets out of bed and goes outside to see what is going on. There, she finds a group of police officers ordering John, who has locked himself in Florence’s old room, to come outside and surrender his weapons. Mrs. Curren asks the police to leave the boy and insists he has done nothing wrong. However, the police will not budge. Mrs. Curren asks them if they will guarantee John’s safety if she gets him to come outside. Again, the police refuse to give up any ground.

A female officer tells Mrs. Curren that she will need to leave her house for a few days until the situation is settled. However, Mrs. Curren refuses to leave her home to the police. Because she will not leave, one of the police officers picks her up, causing her to cry out in pain. Mrs. Curren tells them she has cancer and orders them to put her down immediately. The police exchange a look and a smile, as if they think Mrs. Curren is senile. Mrs. Curren assures them that her pain is real and that they will experience something similar one day. From the other room, Mrs. Curren hears the sound of breaking glass followed by several gunshots.

Shortly afterwards, an ambulance arrives, and the female officer tells Mrs. Curren she needs to leave. Mrs. Curren, disoriented and without her medication, wanders off on her own and falls asleep under a bridge. While in a fugue state, several young boys accost her looking for money. Scared, weak, and confused, she urinates. Sometime later, the boys return to probe her mouth for gold teeth. When they are done, they kick dirt over her face. The entire time, Mrs. Curren fades in and out of consciousness.

Mrs. Curren wakes up to find Vercueil’s dog licking her face. Vercueil himself appears on the scene moments later and carries her home. Surprisingly, Mrs. Curren’s pain becomes more bearable in his presence. She confesses she does not want to return home but accompanies Vercueil to a secluded spot under a bridge. They have a one-sided conversation where Mrs. Curren discusses her views on South Africa’s situation and her own moral conflicts. When Mrs. Curren stops talking, she looks over and finds that Vercueil has fallen asleep. When he wakes up, Mrs. Curren suggests that they go home.

Upon returning home, Mrs. Curren and Vercueil find her house in disarray. An officer who is still on the scene informs her that detectives are on the way. Mrs. Curren lies down, and the officer questions Vercueil about someone named “Johannes” (which is presumably John’s real name). Mrs. Curren falsely claims ownership of the pistol that the detectives found in John’s room and insists Vercueil is her right-hand man.

The officer warns Mrs. Curren that keeping an unregistered weapon is against the law, and she could get in a lot of trouble. Mrs. Curren dismisses the officer’s fake concern and tells him that everyone needs a weapon nowadays because of what South Africa has become. After the officer leaves, Mrs. Curren leaves a message for Mr. Thabane on his answering machine, warning him to be careful. Then, she lies in bed and thinks about what happened to John. She wants to write but feels that she does not have the strength.