The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor

Seagulls carry a dualistic symbolism in the book. Predominantly, they represent hope. On a superficial level, they represent the hope of sighting land: “To a sailor, sea gulls are like sighting land” (51). Land itself is a further symbol of rescue, redemption, safety, the end of suffering. Therefore, the seagulls also carry these connotations. These are what the seagulls represent to Luis Velasco when he first spots them in Chapter 7, and then again in Chapter 9, just before he finally does see land on the horizon.

Conversely, the seagulls represent false hope and the mutability of nature; in Chapter 7, Velasco attempts to consume the small seagull that lands on his raft. When that goes awry, he remembers, “Every sailor knows that sea gulls sometimes get lost at sea and fly for several days without direction […]” (56). It is only in Chapter 9, when Velasco notices that the seagulls are older than the previous ones, that he believes that they are too old and wise to fly out far to sea and get lost. Seagulls represent hope—but only if the observer is keen enough to recognize what type of seagulls they are.