Jonathan Livingston Seagull is about a seagull named Jonathan who loves flying, unlike other seagulls who only fly to find food. Jonathan sets goals to improve his flying abilities through practice. While his skills grow, his flock rejects him for not conforming. Jonathan later finds acceptance in a new flock that shares his love of learning and pushing boundaries. He goes on to teach younger seagulls, helping them gain freedom through flight.

1. JONATHAN
LIVINGSTON
SEAGULL
By RICHARD BACH

2. Concerns of a young
seagull
• Being a seagull means that you fly only
for food: quickly over water to catch fish
and quickly back to the shore.
• Seagull Jonathan Livingston could not
accept that this should be his life and
destiny. He realized that he was a bird,
and as a bird he had to fly and fly
perfectly. He could not accept that his
life should be constant fishing and
walking on the shore.
• Life should have a more substantial
meaning

3. Jonathan’s
goals
• Jonathan set his own goals: he was a
bird, therefore he should learn how to
fly perfectly, not just as seagulls fly. He
practiced every day, more and more
and he managed to improve his flying
abilities day by day. He could fly in top
speed, dive into water very fast and up
in the sky again. He didn’t care about
food so much. He was a flying seagull.
His parents were anxious about him.
They couldn’t understand his behavior
and his love of flying.

4. Jonathan’s
persistent
efforts
• Jonathan attempted risky and
dangerous flights and sometimes he
failed and hurt himself. But although
he felt disappointed and hurt, he didn’t
give up and he continued his efforts.
When he managed to succeed in his
new way of flying, he felt great joy and
satisfaction and he threw himself in
more dangerous acrobatic flights. He
had found the meaning of life!

5. Jonathan’s
secret
doubts
• Sometimes, especially after a failure, strange ideas
struck his mind.
• He thought that, after all, he was a seagull, and as a
seagull he wasn’t made to fly so perfectly. Nature
had a different role for him. So, he had better give
up his efforts of becoming something else. When
these ideas came to his mind, he stopped flying, he
walked on the shore and abandoned his grand
designs.
• However, these thoughts didn’t last long, and soon
he rushed on the air again faster and stronger than
before, trying harder and harder.
• He felt so much joy when he was flying free, high up
in the blue sky!

6. An expected
consequence…
• The happier Jonathan felt with his flying
achievements, the more disappointed his
fellow seagulls felt about him. The flock of
seagulls that he belonged, were angry and
irritated with his constant flying. They
thought that he ignored and despised them
all.
• So, one day, they all gathered and called him
to stand in front of the oldest seagulls. They
scolded him and sent him away. They said
that he was a shame for the flock and he
couldn’t belong there anymore. He was
made an outcast. He had to go away and live
alone.

7. Jonathan’s
defence
• Jonathan tried to defend himself saying that
he wasn’t irresponsible and he didn’t want
to ignore them, he just had found a new,
better meaning in life. He wanted to learn,
to discover, to improve seagulls’ lives. He
believed that they all should try to learn and
achieve something better.
• They wouldn’t listen to him, they didn’t give
him the chance to show them what he had
learnt by himself. He understood that he
couldn’t teach them what he had found out.
So, he ran away, living alone, and he
continued his magnificent flights.

8. An
unexpected
meeting
• One day, while Jonathan was practicing
his flying tricks, he met some new
seagulls. They were beautiful and they
could fly even better than himself. The
seagulls took them to their flock. This
flock of seagulls was different than
Jonathan’s flock. They were all experts
in flying and they were thinking exactly
the same way with him. They liked to
learn, to improve and find new goals in
life.

9. Constant
improvement
• Living with them helped Jonathan learn
more things and achieve new goals. Their
society was so developed that Jonathan
thought that with them, he was learning so
many things that otherwise he should need
many lives to learn. He improved his flying
but he also developed his way of thinking.
His new friends really suited him.
• Learning, trying, achieving: these three goals
were the most important things in life.
• The higher a seagull flies, the further he can
see.

10. Teaching
younger
seagulls
• Jonathan, after having learned so
many things about flying from older
wise seagulls, he started teaching
younger seagulls who wanted to learn
and become better in flying. These
younger seagulls were clever and
expected more things in life than just
looking for food and safety.
• Jonathan tried to help them and teach
them everything he knew.

11. Flying skills
and
friendship
• All young ambitious seagulls who
wanted to be free and fly high, had
been expelled from their societies like
Jonathan.
• Now, all together they created new
relationships, encouraged one another
and shared their knowledge and
experience.
• They also realized that it was
important, now that they had achieved
so many things, to teach other seagulls
and help them feel free.

12. Learning to
fly, gaining
freedom
• Some seagulls approached Jonathan
and his older students in order to learn
from them, but other seagulls were
not very friendly towards them.
However, more and more seagulls
gathered around them every day.
• Jonathan always talked to them about
the importance of trying, learning,
attempting to overcome difficulties
and never give up.

13. Lessons for
life
• Jonathan managed to teach his love of
flying and freedom to his students and
he set off for new adventures, leaving
them to teach others the way they
were taught by him.
• Therefore, Jonathan succeeds in life
although he faced rejection at the
beginning. He and his students have
gained freedom, love and kindness and
have understood the real meaning of
life.