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 her actions, and she 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, just as the narrator could have.  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 and 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.  She 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 her an unbiased opinion while interacting with each other.  The narrator says she recently moved in to the area, so she has no prior knowledge of Mrs. J, nor any previous encounters with her, therefore she does not have any presumptions about her.  She does not presume that Mrs. J has done something rash when she sees the hand-shaped carrots which came out of Mrs. J’s garden, but simply finds it odd and does not accuse Mrs. J of anything.

It is completely against human nature to not have any presumptions of someone else, but 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.

The narrator in the story has a clear mind while observing Mrs. J, saying, “Then one day I realized that all the kiwis had disappeared from one section of the orchard, though I had seen no one picking them; and after a few days the branches were again covered with tiny new fruit. But since I was in the habit of writing at night and sleeping until almost noon, it was possible I had simply missed the workers.” (Ogawa 1) In this excerpt, the narrator disregards the strange disappearance of the kiwis overnight, and does not become suspicious of Mrs. J nor anyone else, and she has an unfiltered approach while observing and interacting with her.  On the contrary, the reader could consider the narrator’s observations of Mrs. J as its own blindness.  One could argue that the narrator is repudiating to acknowledge Mrs. J’s mysterious actions on a daily basis.  

Hypothetically, if the narrator decided to make automatic assumptions about Mrs. J’s past, she 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 finds the hand-shaped carrots, the narrator is not overhasty even though it is a very odd event to have carrots in the shape of human hands, and it would be very easy to jump to conclusions.  Ogawa’s point is not to try to be exactly like the narrator in this fictional story, however, it is a very good example of how to not judge others.

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.  Ogawa never confirms that Mrs. J killed anyone, but she leads the reader to draw conclusions for themselves, which goes along with her point of the story: do not judge or come to conclusions about others.  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.
