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.
Character Analysis
Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Jonathan is the book’s protagonist. At the start of the novella, he is a young and free-spirited gull with a passion for flying and a desire to improve his skills; this puts him at odds with his family and Flock, who see flight simply as a way to secure food. Jonathan’s nonconformity eventually leads to his banishment from the Flock, but he perseveres in learning as much about flying as he can on his own. However, after growing old and ascending to a new plane of existence, Jonathan learns that there is more to life even than the physical freedom of flight, and over the course of Parts 2 and 3, Jonathan grows into a wise and loving teacher committed to sharing what he has learned about transcendence, perfection, and freedom with as many gulls as possible. Although some come to see him as a Christ-like figure, even labelling him the “Son of the Great Gull,” Jonathan remains humble, insisting that what he has learned is available to everyone who embraces their true and limitless nature.
Fletcher Lynd Seagull
Fletcher is the first student Jonathan takes on after returning to Earth; like Jonathan, Fletcher has been made Outcast for attempting flying tricks. He becomes particularly adept at aerobatics and is the only one of Jonathan’s students who comes to have any deep understanding of the latter’s spiritual teachings. As a result, Jonathan entrusts Fletcher with continuing to spread his message of love and self-transcendence after Jonathan himself leaves.
Chiang (the Elder)
All Flocks in Jonathan Livingston Seagull are led or headed by an Elder Gull, but where the Elder of Jonathan’s first Flock exists to enforce conformity and compliance with the rules, the Elder of his second—Chiang—helps less experienced gulls fulfill their individual potential. In addition to being a skilled flyer, Chiang is wise and compassionate, and he instructs Jonathan in the metaphysical ideas that eventually allow him to move through time and space at will. Chiang’s name and teachings are a nod to Eastern spirituality and philosophy, which were becoming popular in the Western world at the time Bach was writing. In much the same way that Jonathan himself eventually leaves Earth and entrusts his legacy to Fletcher, Chiang leaves for another world near the end of Part 2.
Sullivan Seagull
Sullivan (or “Sully”) is Jonathan’s instructor and later friend in the world he finds himself in during Part 2. He is intelligent and good-natured, as well as quick to learn from Jonathan after the latter outstrips his former teacher’s skills. Although he is somewhat more cautious than Jonathan and initially attempts to dissuade the latter from returning to Earth, he ultimately accepts his friend’s plan, as well as his reassurances that they’ll see one another again.
