Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Jonathan circles the Far Cliffs, watching as his new pupil, Fletcher, flies through the air. Fletcher is strong, light, quick, and best of all, determined. Despite all of his fire, however, Fletcher struggles and often falls and tumbles through the air. Fletcher gets down on himself easily, wondering whether he’ll ever learn how to fly as well as he wants to—Jonathan is a good teacher, though, and reassures Fletcher that with enough practice, he’ll be great.

Three months have gone by, and now Jonathan has six other students—all Outcasts. Jonathan explains to his pupils that flying is a tool the gulls can use to grow closer to expressing their true nature and putting aside their own personal limits. Jonathan tries to teach his students that in breaking the chains of their thoughts, they can break the chains of their bodies, but his students are easily exhausted, and unable to break through.

A month later, despite his students’ slow progress, Jonathan tells them all that the time has come to return to the Flock. One of his pupils, Henry Calvin Seagull, insists that they are no longer welcome among the Flock—they are Outcast, and cannot force themselves back into the group at home. Jonathan insists that each of the gulls, however, is free to go where they wish and be who they want to be. With that, he takes to the sky and begins flying toward the Flock’s home grounds.

Jonathan’s students watch him fly away, in turmoil over whether or not they should accompany him. They ultimately decide that if they are not a part of the Flock, they do not have to obey the laws which keep them from it. Moreover, they want to be able to help Jonathan if there is a flight upon his return. Together, the eight students take to the skies and follow Jonathan eastward.

The birds, led by Jonathan, fly speedily and beautifully to the shore where their old Flock is gathered. They land on the sand in front of the Flock, and see a thousand beady eyes staring at them. Jonathan begins critiquing his pupils’ flight, knowing full well his old Flock is watching him intently. Some of the younger gulls of the Flock whisper among themselves admiringly about the Outcast gulls’ flying, but the Elder Gull sends a message throughout the crowd: “any gull who speaks to an Outcast is himself Outcast.”

The Flock begins turning their backs on Jonathan, but he does not seem to notice, and instead begins training his own pupils directly over the beach, encouraging them to fly as quickly and as deftly as they can. Pupils who’d never shone before give standout performances. Fletcher Seagull conquers a complicated slow roll, and the following day, as the public practice continues, manages a triple cartwheel through the air. Jonathan catapults through the air with his students, guiding and encouraging them, while the rest of their flock is “huddled miserably” on the sand.

After the flying is done, Jonathan and his students gather together on the shore, and he lectures them about his ideas. In the night, a circle forms around his circle of students—other curious gulls from the Flock, shy and nervous to deviate from the norm but helplessly curious as to what Jonathan has to say.

Jonathan and his pupils have been back for a month when the first gull from the Flock approaches their group and asks in earnest to learn how to fly. His name is Terrence Lowell Gull, and though he knows he is already rendering himself Outcast in just speaking to Jonathan and his group, he joins them. Kirk Maynard Gull joins their group the following night, helplessly showing a broken wing to Jonathan and asking how he can ever learn to fly with such an impediment. Jonathan insists that with his group, Kirk Maynard is free to be himself, and that nothing will stand in his way. Jonathan proclaims him a free gull, and with that, Kirk Maynard spreads his wings effortlessly and takes to the sky, surprised and delighted by his own triumph.

By sunrise, a thousand gulls have positioned themselves apart from the greater Flock, listening to Jonathan as he speaks of the nature of being, the glory of freedom, and the poisonous rituals, superstitions, and limitations that stand in the way of true liberation. The other gulls are afraid of abandoning the Law of the Flock, and some express concerns that they’ll never be able to fly like the “gifted and divine” Jonathan. In response, Jonathan insists that he and his pupils are no more special than the others. The only difference between the two groups is that Jonathan’s pupils “have begun to understand what they really are and have begun to practice it.” With each passing day, the crowd of gulls who gather to question, idolize, and scorn Jonathan and his pupils grows.

One morning, Fletcher reports to Jonathan that the word in the Flock is that Jonathan is perhaps the Son of the Great Gull himself—either that, or he is “a thousand years” ahead of his time. Jonathan sighs, realizing that to the Flock, he is being set up to be either the devil or god. Fletcher muses that Jonathan and his pupils are merely ahead of the fashion.

One morning, during flight practice, Fletcher narrowly misses striking a young bird on its first flight. To avoid slamming into the youngster at two hundred miles per hour, he diverts his path—into a solid cliff of granite. The rock is, to Fletcher, “a giant hard door into another world.” When he awakens, he is adrift in a strange sky. The voice within, the one he heard on the first day he met Jonathan, speaks to him. He realizes that the voice is Jonathan. Fletcher is surprised that he hasn’t died, and the voice answers that all Fletcher did was “change [his] level of consciousness.”

The voice tells Fletcher that he has a choice: he can either stay on this new level, which is “quite a bit higher” than the one he left, or he can return to the Flock and keep working with them. Fletcher says that he wants to go back to the Flock. The voice tells Fletcher he can go, and urges him to remember that one’s body is “nothing more than thought itself.”

When Fletcher awakes back on the shore, a crowd has gathered around him. Some proclaim him the Son of the Great Gull—others say he is a devil who has come to break up the Flock, and try to peck at him and harm him. Jonathan appears over Fletcher and asks if he would like to leave the squawking Flock, who have quickly seized on the idea that he is a devil and turned against him. Together, Fletcher and Jonathan transport a half-mile away. Jonathan wonders aloud why it is so hard to convince a bird that he is free. Fletcher is astounded by how quickly the two of them moved, and asks Jonathan how he accomplished the shift—Jonathan tells Fletcher that like everything else, the maneuver takes only practice.

By the morning, the Flock has forgotten its insanity, but Fletcher has not—he asks Jonathan how it will be possible to love the Flock when they so angrily turned against Fletcher himself. Jonathan tells Fletcher that it takes practice to see the good in each gull, and to help them see it in themselves. Jonathan says that Fletcher has become a leader in his own right—Jonathan wants to leave and allow Fletcher to take over helping the other gulls to see the light. Jonathan tells Fletcher that Fletcher doesn’t need him as an instructor anymore. Now, Fletcher must be his own instructor.

Jonathan’s body begins to shimmer in the air and become transparent. He begs Fletcher not to let the others spread “silly rumors” that he is a god. He urges Fletcher to look with his understanding, not his eyes, in order to see the way to fly. Jonathan vanishes, leaving Fletcher alone on the shore.

Fletcher reluctantly ascends to the sky and faces his brand-new group of students. He is devastated by Jonathan’s disappearance, but begins the lesson anyway. He urges his pupils to understand that “a seagull is an unlimited idea of freedom,” and that each gull’s body is nothing more than the sum of their thoughts. The birds, who thought they’d be learning about flight, are confused by Fletcher’s lesson. Seeing their disappointment, he moves onto the practical part of the lesson, realizing suddenly that Jonathan had never been more divine than Fletcher himself. As Fletcher looks out at his pupils, he sees them all as they really are, and loves what he sees.