In Yoko Ogawa’s “Old Mrs. J”, many aspects regarding Mrs. J are very secretive, and her past is very private.  Ogawa intended for Mrs. J to be the main character without revealing every thought or idea she had, and the author concealed the details from her previous life experiences and encounters.  The narrator constantly attempts to determine the motives behind Mrs. J’s actions, and he tries to uncover Mrs. J’s past, especially her marriage with her deceased husband.  Ogawa characterizes Mrs. J as a mysterious, secretive, and peculiar woman who is a bit like an unsolved puzzle.  The narrator observes Mrs. J in her garden daily, and cannot come to a conclusion on her behavior.  

The reader can make assumptions about Mrs. J’s past, but that is not the proper thing to do.  The term “do not judge a book by the cover” may come to mind, which seems cliché, but it is absolutely true.  The narrator says, “From what I could tell, Mrs. J led a quiet, monotonous life.” (Ogawa 1).  Here, the narrator is describing an observation instead of making assumptions.  By definition, an observation does not involve cause, however, an assumption comprises a cause of a certain outcome.

The author utilizes the narrator to describe in-depth elements of Mrs. J’s day-to-day life.  He says, “As I was getting up each day, she would be sitting down in front of her TV to wearily eat her lunch.  If she happened to spill something, she would wipe it up with the tablecloth or her sleeve.” (Ogawa 1).  The author uses these profound details throughout the story to set the tone, and the vivid observations that the narrator makes during his time with Mrs. J.  Furthermore, the narrator does not make assumptions about Mrs. J’s past, which gives him an unbiased opinion while interacting with her.  The narrator says he recently moved in to the area, so he has no prior knowledge of Mrs. J, nor any previous encounters with her, therefore he does not have any presumptions about her.

My exact point is not the aforementioned, and cliché, “Do not judge a book by the cover”, however, it is to have a ‘clear slate’ before meeting someone.  People are difficult to uncover.  You may spend your whole life with one person, whether it may be a brother, sister, best friend, wife, husband…I could go on.  Nevertheless, you may still not know everything about that person even if you have known them your whole life, and chances are that you will not learn the entirety of the said someone.  I know that it is completely against human nature to not have any presumptions of someone else, but I am saying that it is not impossible to try.  However, it is not really acceptable in today’s society to walk up to someone and get to know them because forcing yourself on people is frowned upon in most places.  Instead, when required to meet someone or when put in a certain situation, do not have a default setting in which you automatically make assumptions about that person, i.e. where he/she is from, what that person does for a living, what that person may be interested in…whatever it may be.  Turn that default setting off, and do not make assumptions about someone you have never met.

People have a perceptive lens that goes unnoticed by everyone because it is completely automatic.  This ‘lens’ gives people an interpretation of others before one even interacts with another.  The world could be a much friendlier place to live if people simply removed the ‘lens’, and flexed our awareness muscles a bit.  Now, I know that it is not simple by any means to change your way of perceiving others because to change the way a person thinks is a daunting task, but it is not impossible.

Reverting back to “Old Mrs. J”, the narrator has an unfiltered approach while observing and interacting with Mrs. J.  Hypothetically, if the narrator decided to make automatic assumptions about Mrs. J’s past, he could have come to the conclusion that Mrs. J is a crazy old lady who killed her husband because no one knows how he died.  Even though this is exactly what happened in this case, it does not mean that assuming something like that about another person is appropriate.  The narrator is able to learn about Mrs. J by meeting and talking to her, and from that, they become quite good acquaintances.  Later in the story, when Mrs. J find the hand-shaped carrots, the narrator still does not jump to conclusions.  My point is not to try to be exactly like the narrator in this fictional story, however, it is a very good example of it.

Ogawa constantly gives the reader hints of Mrs. J’s characteristics and behaviors, but never reveals her motives nor her past until the last paragraph of the story.  The reader can make assumptions, as it is natural to do so, and they may be correct assumptions, but it is not completely necessary to presume that Mrs. J killed her husband, or whatever those assumptions may be.  This is not strictly limited while reading a fictional story like “Old Mrs. J”, but it is entirely applicable to the real world.  All in all, first impressions of people are not always the correct impressions, so get to know them, talk to them, and draw whatever may be necessary from that because chances are, if you have a bad first impression of someone then they might have a harsh impression of you as well.
