They also tried to promote the book through book reviews and ads, but the reviews of the book were not positive. Publishers frequently used particular marketing tactics to garner sales, including publication of an excerpt in a magazine with a wide circulation or convincing a book club (like the Book-of-the-Month Club) to adopt it, but Macmillan was unable to use these promotional methods, as no one was interested in the book. He then returns to his original flock so that he can share what he has learned with them, despite his fight against the rules of that group of birds.īy the date of the book’s release, bookstores had only ordered 3,000 copies, which was not enough to recoup the cost of publication. In Part Three, Jonathan hears his final lesson from his teacher: “keep working on love.” He also learns that he needs to forgive in order to truly be free, and that, in order to progress, he needs to become a teacher. Here, he learns that a seagull is “an unlimited idea of freedom, an idea of the Great Gull.” He also learns the value of being true to yourself. In the second part, Jonathan Livingston Seagull reaches a society where all of the gulls enjoy flying.

There, he meets two radiant seagulls, one of which is named Chiang, who tell him that there is more they can teach him. After they do, he flies higher and higher until he can go no further. He is punished for his nonconformity when the flock banishes him.

He is much more interested in learning everything he can about flight. The book was first published with three sections in which the narrator, Jonathan Livingston Seagull, is bored living the seagull life, so focused on fitting in and the daily squabbles over food.

Jonathan livingston seagull author