Providence and “A Remarkable Meteor” Seen in Uraga: Perry, Hawthorne and the Opening of Japan

Abstract

On his way back to America in 1854, after the completion of his mission of opening Japan, Commodore Perry visited Nathaniel Hawthorne in Liverpool, where the writer was working as US consul. Perry asked Hawthorne to compile his travel journal and other materials for publication, which Hawthorne declined. Hawks eventually undertook this task and Narrative of the Expedition of American Squadron to the China Seas and Japan, in the Years of 1852, 53 and 1854 was published in 1856. Few critics have paid attention to Perry’s initial choice of Hawthorne, whose works often fictionalize historical events drastically. Focusing on the parallel of peculiar “meteors” depicted in Perry’s Narrative and Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, as well as the texts’ providential discourse characteristic of nineteenth-century America, this paper elucidates links between Perry, Hawthorne, and the opening of Japan.

Perry’s Narrative records a strange meteor in the entry for July 8 in 1853. It reports a “meteor” with a red wedge-shaped tail and unusual brightness. For this, Perry says that ancient people would regard it as a good omen for national enterprise, and prays for God’s blessing for his mission. This echoes a scene in The Scarlet Letter where a meteor draws a letter “A” in the sky and the narrator explains it in terms of the Puritan belief in Providence. Indeed, these meteor scenes share the providential discourse that claims God’s special plan for American enterprise. However, the Narrative’s description of the “meteor” is scientifically questionable, and Perry most likely dramatized the event to create the impression of a God-given mission.

Political parties utilized this rhetoric of God-given mission as well. Hawthorne sometimes wrote for Democratic campaign as he had close connection to Democrats like O’Sullivan and Bancroft. And these politicians disseminated the providential discourse in the theory of “Manifest Destiny” and the US History, respectively. Hawthorne also compiled Bridge’s African Cruiser, the journal of African Squadron; Perry led this Squadron aboard one of the four black ships that later appeared off the coast of Uraga. Moreover, Hawthorne wrote a campaign biography for Pierce, the fourteenth American president, whose presidency saw Perry’s successful completion of the opening of Japan.

It must be also noted that political parties used literary and historical discourses to disseminate political values. This blurred the border between fiction and nonfiction, even in the case of official documents like Perry’s Narrative as suggested by its title. Meanwhile, Hawthorne attributes his artistry to “the neutral territory.” This idea, predicated on his belief in Providence, underlies his style of dramatizing historical events into fanciful stories. Given Hawthorne’s relationship to contemporary politicians and his literary use of Providence, it is no wonder that his romance and Perry’s journal share the providential discourse.

Though the authoritative rhetoric of Manifest Destiny pressed Japan to open the country for practical and economic reasons, America’s democratic ideals based on the belief in Providence also influenced its relationship to Japan. Perry’s prayer for his mission’s success, for example, attests his own piousness. We can safely assume that Perry first asked Hawthorne to compile his narrative because of the author’s writing style, his relation to the Democrats, and his literary use of Providence in its religious, cultural and political significance to America.