27 pages • 54 minutes read
Richard BachJonathan Livingston Seagull
Fiction | Novella | YA | Published in 1970A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Part 1Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 1 Summary
One morning, while a flock of seagulls is flying around a fishing boat trying to snatch little pieces of food, a young gull named Jonathan is flying all by himself, adjusting his beak, body, and wings to learn how to fly as high and as fast as possible. This sets him apart from other gulls, who normally only learn as much flying as they need to find food; even Jonathan’s own mother and father chide him for not being more like the rest of the Flock.
Jonathan tries to listen to his parents, but he finds flight hard to resist; within a few days, he is once again away from the Flock and hard at practice. He begins diving from great heights in an attempt to fly faster than any other gull; he eventually breaks 90 miles per hour, but loses control while pulling out of a dive and crashes into the ocean. When he comes to, Jonathan is in despair and nearly gives up on his dream. However, while flying back to shore, he suddenly notices he is flying at night—something seagulls never do.
At this point, Jonathan has an epiphany and realizes that the key to diving in a fast and controlled manner is to shorten his wingspan; he decides to try diving again and, by using just his wing tips, is able to reach 140 miles per hour. He continues to practice the next morning, eventually reaching a speed of over 200 miles per hour before shifting his to attention to high-speed turns: “He spared no time that day for talk with other gulls, but flew on past sunset. He discovered the loop, the slow roll, the point roll, the inverted spin, the gull bunt, the pinwheel” (27).
In his excitement, Jonathan approaches the Flock to share his discoveries; instead, they order him to stand sentence for his “reckless irresponsibility” (34), and banish him from the Flock. Jonathan leaves, flying beyond the Far Cliffs, and spends the rest of his life alone, learning more and more about flight.
One night as Jonathan is flying, a pair of bright, glowing seagulls appear next to him. He tests their skills and finds they are easily able to keep up with him. When Jonathan asks the gulls who they are, they tell him that they are his brothers and that they have “come to take [him] higher, to take [him] home” (53). Acknowledging that he’s ready, Jonathan ascends into the sky with them.
Part 1 Analysis
Jonathan Livingston Seagull is best understood as a fable or allegory. These two genres are closely related, but broadly speaking, a fable is a brief and accessible story intended to communicate a moral truth. By contrast, an allegory is more complex, containing multiple symbolic correspondences to real-world events, people, or ideas the reader is assumed to have some background knowledge of.
Jonathan Livingston Seagull contains elements of both genres, but its allegorical nature becomes clearer as Bach delves more deeply into spiritual concepts in Parts 2 and 3. In this first and most straightforward section, Bach is primarily concerned with conveying a simple message about the challenge and necessity of trying to be true to oneself in a conformist society. The Flock to which Jonathan belongs actively discourages its members from questioning their lot or purpose in life, instead advising them to focus simply on their physical needs; it is so intolerant of difference, in fact, that it ritually casts out any gulls who bring “shame” on the Flock by flouting its values. Even Jonathan, who is naturally drawn to flight for its own sake, has to some extent internalized the Flock’s teachings; in the wake of a crash landing, for instance, he reflects, “My father was right. I must forget this foolishness. I must fly home to the Flock and be content as I am, as a poor limited seagull” (21).
However, while Part 1 can be read simply as a parable celebrating individual difference, it’s important to note its relationship to the era in which it was written, which was one of great social unrest and generational divides. The 1960s witnessed the rise of a number of movements challenging the status quo (Civil Rights, Second Wave Feminism, etc.), as well as a more generalized discontent with the materialist American culture that had emerged in the wake of World War II. On that note, it’s worth comparing the countercultural critique of American consumerism to the Flock’s emphasis on literal consumption as the purpose of life: “Life is the unknown and the unknowable, except that we are put into this world to eat, to stay alive as long as we possibly can” (35). Likewise, Jonathan’s sense that there must be something more to life than work is comparable to the sense of frustration that led many young Americans in the 1960s and ‘70s to reject mainstream culture in favor of New Age spirituality, communal living, etc.
