"The sight of the food maddened him." What does this suggest? What compelled the young seagull to finally fly?
The phrase suggests that the young seagull was driven by extreme hunger and desperation. The sight of his mother holding a piece of fish in her beak made him lose his caution and self-control, overpowering his deep fear of flying.
The young seagull was finally compelled to fly by his hunger. When his mother flew across with a piece of fish but halted just out of reach, he was maddened by hunger and dived at the food. This desperate plunge caused him to fall outwards and downwards into space, and instinctively, his wings spread outwards, allowing him to finally fly.
Explanation
The phrase 'maddened by hunger' indicates the intense desperation the seagull felt after starving on the ledge. The mother's tactic of holding the food just out of reach provoked the starving bird to take a desperate plunge, which ultimately triggered its natural instinct to spread its wings and fly.