His one sorrow was not solitude, it was that other gulls refused to believe the glory of flight that awaited them they refused to open their eyes and see. Jonathan Seagull spent the rest of his days alone, but he flew way out beyond the Far Cliffs. Jonathan is humble but ambitious, and his curiosity, drive, and desire to help others above all else-combined with the misinterpretation of his messages and his simultaneous deification-make him an analog and an allegory for the biblical figure of Jesus Christ. In the years after Jonathan’s passing, his methods-against all odds-become revered the world over, and the worshipful cult of personality that crops up around Jonathan feverishly overtakes the earth. One day, feeling he has succeeded in his mission but wary of the rumors that he is divine, or even the Son of the mythical Great Gull, Jonathan begins to shimmer and ascends to heaven, leaving his legacy in the hands of his star pupil and friend Fletcher Lynd Seagull.

He brings the things he has learned back to earth and gathers a small group of pupils whom he instructs in flight. As he realizes that his mind, spirit, and body exist across all of space and time, he masters instantaneous transportation. With the help of Chiang, the Elder Gull, Jonathan begins to see past the limits of his body. Jonathan meets two shimmering gulls, and is transported up to another realm, where special gulls go to train and learn about their place in the world. However, his feats do not impress the other gulls in his Flock-rather, they render him Outcast, and he is banished to the Far Cliffs. As Jonathan studies flight on his own, his aerodynamics, speed, and abilities improve. Obsessed with flight, Jonathan does not see the point in flying slowly and gracelessly only in pursuit of food. The protagonist of the novel, Jonathan Livingston Seagull, often called Jon by his friends and students, is a bird who is different from all the other members of his Flock of gulls.

Livingston seagull