In this blog post, I’ll discuss the new perspectives on Jonathan Livingston Seagull that I discovered upon rereading Richard Bach’s ‘Jonathan Livingston Seagull’ after a long hiatus, as well as the meanings of freedom and growth that he conveys.
Reencountering “Jonathan Livingston Seagull”
I first read Richard Bach’s “Jonathan Livingston Seagull” during my college years. It was just as I was preparing to take flight into the world. At the time, it seemed as though there was a deep, terrifying yet thrilling chasm between school and the real world, and I viewed crossing that chasm as becoming a completely different person and entering a different world. Like many college students at the time, I was struggling between reality and my ideals, worrying more about “how” to live than “what” to become, when I came across ‘Jonathan Livingston Seagull’. I felt encouraged by the protagonist, Jonathan Livingston, who told me, “A bird that flies high sees far,” urging me to fly higher and higher—and I received both encouragement and, to use modern terminology, healing. I didn’t ponder deeply what “height” actually meant; I simply harbored an abstract desire to fly “higher and higher,” breaking free from the world’s standards to gain freedom. But regardless, it lifted my spirits and made my heart race with excitement.
A very long time has passed, and now I’ve revisited ‘Jonathan Livingston Seagull’ with a fresh perspective. I wondered if I could still feel the emotions I’d experienced so long ago, even after all these years. Society has changed so much in the meantime, and the emotions, experiences, and dreams of the people living within it have also shifted greatly… It wasn’t easy to open the book again amid my expectations and apprehensions, but I began reading it with the mindset of the present me going to meet my past self.
To my younger self, Jonathan was the protagonist—a hero who accomplished what the other seagulls could not. All I thought about was wanting to do the same, wanting to soar high. However, the newly published edition of ‘Jonathan Livingston Seagull’, which includes four additional chapters written by Richard Bach long ago, was not a novel that merely highlighted Jonathan’s existence and his success. Jonathan, who thinks entirely differently from the other seagulls; Jonathan, who hesitates at times but accepts himself as he is; Jonathan, who finds the courage to try again and again despite repeated failures in his quest to soar high into the sky and fly faster; Jonathan, who, even when rejected by his own kind, remains true to himself and steadfastly forges ahead alone. I truly encountered many different versions of Jonathan, as well as Sullivan, who teaches him (did Richard Bach have Helen Keller’s teacher, Sullivan, in mind while writing?), the mentor Chang, who guides him to a life on another plane, and Anthony, the seagull who sets out on the path of the new Jonathan Livingston. As I read this story of seagulls—who wrestle with their thoughts, meet one another, teach and learn, share love, and guide each other toward new lives—’Jonathan Livingston Seagull’ struck me as a work that resonates even more deeply and evokes rich emotions. Rather than focusing on the joy of results and achievements, I found myself drawn more to the pain of traversing that long journey and the strength to press on despite it all—making me feel as though I were journeying alongside Jonathan. I thought it was amusing to empathize with a seagull, but didn’t the author say at the beginning of the story that he dedicated it to the real Jonathan living within each of us?
An Unchanging World and New Hope
Although the author caused a huge sensation when he first published the book, did he add Chapter 4 to urge us to open our eyes to a world that has remained unchanged? Grieving over such a world, Richard Bach seems to be sending a glimmer of hope through Anthony, the seagull who dreams of flying anew.
As a student about to enter the workforce, the world I dreamed of while reading this book is quite different from the one I dream of now that I’ve entered middle age. The meaning of “soaring high” is also entirely different. I finish rereading this book, realizing that there is a Jonathan within me—one who is excruciatingly lonely and fearful—and that there are countless Jonathans in the world. “Jonathan Livingston Seagull” remains a source of encouragement, comfort, and wisdom. But it is not the story of the legendary seagull Livingston; it is the story of all of us seagulls.
