Jonathan Livingston Seagull ISBN 0-380-01286-3), written by Richard Bach, is a fable in novella form about a seagull learning about life and flight, and a homily about self-perfection and self-sacrifice. First published in 1970 as “Jonathan Livingston Seagull — a story“, it became a favorite on American university campuses. By the end of 1972, over a million copies were in print, Reader’s Digest had published a condensed version, and the book reached the top of the New York Times bestseller list where it remained for 38 weeks. It is still in print as of 2006.
Plot summary
The novel tells the story of Jonathan Livingston Seagull, a seagull who is bored with the daily squabbles over food and seized by a passion for flight. He pushes himself, learning everything he can about flying, until finally his unwillingness to conform results in his expulsion from his flock. An outcast, he continues to learn, becoming increasingly pleased with his abilities as he leads an idyllic life.
One day, Jonathan is met by two seagulls who take him to a “higher plane of existence”, where he meets other gulls who love to fly. He discovers that his sheer tenacity and desire to learn make him “a gull in a million”. Jonathan befriends the wisest gull in this new place, named Chiang, who takes him beyond his previous learning, teaching him how to move instantaneously to anywhere else in the universe. The secret, Chiang says, is to “begin by knowing that you have already arrived”.
Not satisfied with his new life, Jonathan returns to Earth to find others like him, to bring them his learning and to spread his love for flight. His mission is successful, gathering around him others who have been outlawed for not conforming. Ultimately, one of his students, Fletcher Lynd Seagull, becomes a teacher in his own right and Jonathan leaves to continue his learning.
Interpretation
Bach said the title of the book was inspired by John H. “Johnny” Livingston, a barnstorming pilot during the 1920s and 1930s.Livingston brothers flew the skies over Iowa
Part One
Several early commentators, emphasizing mainly on the first part of the book, see it as part of the American self-help and positive thinking culture, epitomised by Norman Vincent Peale and by the New Thought movement. Some have described it as having Christian-anarchist characteristics. It has also been compared to the children’s tale The Little Engine That Could. But while Jonathan Livingston Seagull may take the form of a traditional animal fable, and can be enjoyed by young children at that level, its attraction has extended beyond this group. In 1972, before “postmodernism” had evolved from an architectural term into a cultural buzzword, Beverley Byrne noted,
- No matter what metaphysical minority the reader may find seductive, there is something for him in Jonathan Livingston Seagull. […] the dialogue is a mishmash of Boy Scout/Kahlil Gibran. The narrative is poor man’s Hermann Hesse; the plot is Horatio Alger doing Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. The meanings, metaphysical and other, are a linty overlay of folk tale, old movies, Christian tradition, Protestantism, Christian Science, Greek and Chinese philosophies, and the spirits of Sports Illustrated and Outward Bound […] This seagull is an athletic Siddharta tripping on Similac, spouting the Qur’an as translated by Bob Dylan […] One hopes this is not the parable for our time, popular as it is — the swift image, all-meaning metaphor that opens up into almost nothing. (Byrne, B., 1972. “Seagullibility and the American ethos”. Pilgrimage. 1:1, pp 59–60.).
Part Two
In the second part, Jonathan transcends into another society where all the gulls enjoy flying. He is only capable of this after practicing hard alone for a long time (described in the first part). In this other society, real respect emerges as a contrast of the coercive force that was keeping the former “Breakfast Flock” together. The learning process, linking the highly experienced teacher and the diligent student, is raised into almost sacred level, suggesting that this may be the true relation between human and God. The author surely thinks that human and God, regardless of the all immense difference, are sharing something of great importance that can bind them together: “you’ve got to understand that a seagull is an unlimited idea of freedom, an image of the Great Gull”. He realizes that you have to be true to yourself. The source of happiness comes from persevering to achieve your own dream.
Part Three
The introduction to the third part of the book are the last words of Jonathan’s teacher: “keep working on love”. In this part Jonathan understands that the spirit cannot be really free without the ability to forgive, and the way to progress leads through becoming a teacher — not just through working hard as a student. Jonathan returns to the Breakfast Flock to share his newly discovered ideals and the recent tremendous experience, ready for the difficult fight against the current rules of that society. The ability to forgive seems to be a mandatory “passing condition”.
- “Do you want to fly so much that you will forgive the Flock, and learn, and go back to them one day and work to help them know?” Jonathan asks his first student before getting into any further talks. The idea that the stronger can reach more by leaving the weaker friends behind seems totally rejected.
Hence, love, deserved respect, and forgiveness seem to be equally important to the freedom from the pressure to obey the rules just because they are commonly accepted. The general idea of this book may be not very far from Christian anarchism ideology.
Reactions
It has however been very poorly received by the birding community, where it is regarded as sentimental anthropomorphic nonsense; Bill Oddie was particularly scathing, writing “I mean, no half-serious birdwatcher could enjoy (let alone write!) a book called, with such offensive imprecision, Jonathan Livingston-Seagull … I mean, you write me Jonathan Livingston-Second Winter Lesser Black-backed Gull and I might get off on it”.Oddie, B. (1980). Bill Oddie’s Little Black Bird Book, p. 11. Eyre Metheun Ltd. ISBN 0-413-47820-3.
Appearances in popular culture
- In an episode of The Simpsons, Captain McCallister is heard uttering the name, as a type of exclamation.
- In an episode of The Brady Bunch the book is seen on Mike Brady’s nightstand.
- Also featured in the 1995 film The Brady Bunch Movie.
- In the surf movie Free As A Dog by Jack McCoy, Jonathan Livingston Seagull in person has a short appearance.
- In the novel “Adrian Mole and the Weapons of Mass Destruction” Adrian’s father claims that once you read the book, no other book can ever compare. His father has yet to read a book since and gets emotional talking about the seagull.
- In an episode of Moonlighting when David Addison first meets Maddie Hayes, he guesses her favorite movie is Jonathan Livingston Seagull.
- In an episode of “That ’70s Show”, while Bob and Midge are dining with Red and Kitty, a drunken Midge overacts a scene from the novella.
- In Part 7 of The Bronx Is Burning, Reggie Jackson, who is played by Daniel Sunjata, is seen reading the book in the locker room after playing in the 1977 World Series.
Derivative and referencing works
- Film: Bach’s Jonathan Livingston Seagull inspired the production of a motion picture of the same title, with a soundtrack by Neil Diamond. The film was made by Hall Bartlett many years before computer-generated effects were available. In order to make seagulls act on cue and perform aerobatics, Mark Smith of Escondido, California built radio-controlled gliders that looked remarkably like real seagulls from a few feet away. Bach was unimpressed with the treatment of the film, by changing the storyline, that he sued the film company for negligence. Critics blasted the film, calling it “for the birds.” Previously only available on VHS, it was released on DVD in October 2007.
- Ballet: There is also a ballet based on Jonathan Livingston Seagull.
- Spoken Word: The Irish actor Richard Harris won a Grammy in 1973 for the spoken-word album Jonathan Livingston Seagull.
- Parody novels:
- Jonathan Segal Chicken (1973, Pinnacle Books, New York) written by Sol Weinstein and Howard Albrechi revolves around a cocky Jewish-American super chicken who flies the coop to New York City.
- David Lines’ Jonathan Livingston Trafalgar Square Pigeon (1998) features a cynical pigeon looking to the London Underground for inspiration.
- Other:
- Shui On Group, a large property group based in Hong Kong, uses Jonathan the Seagull as their company motto and logo [1] because the Group’s Founder Vincent Lo was inspired by the story.
- Jonathan Seagull is mentioned in the James Gang song “Ride the Wind”.
- MC Paul Barman includes a nod to the seagull in his lyrics from “Excuse You” (”I keep it more gully than Jonathan Livingston”).
- It has been said that Swedish pop group ABBA’s 1977 song “Eagle” was partially inspired by Jonathan Livingston Seagull.
- Canadian singer-songwriter Danny Michel wrote a song about Jonathan Livingston Seagull called “Jonathan Gull” on his 2001 album, In the Belly of a Whale.
- Korean rock group Cherry Filter wrote a song called “Jonathan the Seagull”.
- Korean hip-hop artist MC Mong wrote a song, “Jonathan (갈매기의 꿈 [A Seagull’s Dream]}”.
References
See also
- The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
- The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield
- The Kingdom of God is Within You [2] by Leo Tolstoy
- The Story of My Experiments with Truth [3] by Mahatma Gandhi
- Christian anarchism
External links
- The Yosemite Adventure of Spotty Bat A similar fable about flight and finding one’s destiny.
- Summary and review of the film adaptation
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