Jonathan Seagul

Jonathan Livingston Seagull is a story about a young seagull's desire to rise above what is expected of his kind. Jonathan believes that there is more to life than just looking for food and spends most of his time practicing his moves to be the best in flying despite his physical limitations. His extraordinary passion for flight, however, made him a loner and earned the ire of his flock. Even his mother is worried and asked him to be just like the rest of the flock. His father, on the other hand, kindly reminded him that winter is coming and that food is more important than anything else.

Jonathan followed his parents' advice and tried so hard to behave like the other gulls. But after only a few days, the insatiable desire for speed and flight engulfed Jonathan once again. Soon, he's back on his old ways, flying alone testing his limitations, trying to perfect his technique, sometimes failing, sometimes experiencing great success.

One day, after breaking the seagull flying speed record, he tells his Flock of the freedom he has experienced, “Instead of our drab slogging forth and back to the fishing boats, there’s a reason to life! We can lift ourselves out of ignorance, we can find ourselves as creatures of excellence and intelligence and skill. We can be free! We can learn to fly!” Instead of sharing his enthusiasm, the Flock shuns and banishes him, saying, “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.”

The elders saw this unwillingness to conform to the conventional an insult to the flock and declared Jonathan an outcast.

Jonathan flies into exile, regretting only the blindness of his fellows. Jonathan's dishonourable banishment from his flock gave him more time to perfect his flying. He realizes that “boredom and fear and anger are the reasons that a gull’s life is so short.” With determination and concentration, he developed his skills and reached a higher level of...