

The character of a heart includes the many experiences that one faces throughout a lifetime. During the early years of life, humans experience many great moments such as laughter and joy. However, with the onset of sadness and pain, the heart begins its long journey of recovery. One of the many things that make humans unique is the fact that humans tend to experience much of life’s most pivotal moments with great emotion. This then leads humans to having strong attachments to certain events. It is these kinds of attachments that can sometimes leave lasting effects. Throughout the essay “Joyas Volardores” by Brian Doyle, the reader notes through the author’s use of imagery how a creature’s heart undergoes much pain when faced with great physical odds, whereas the greatest feat of a human heart is recovering from the pain that comes with having strong emotion.

The first thing that usually comes to mind when discussing a heart is its basic physical purpose. That is, to pump oxygen-rich blood to many parts of the body and essentially keep a creature alive. However, when speaking about a heart, it is difficult to avoid the topic of emotion. Often times, the heart is used as imagery or symbolism for the idea of love, sadness, and several other human emotions. Within the essay “Joyas Volardores”, Brian Doyle uses both of these interpretations of the heart to connect the physical odds against a hummingbird to the emotional obstacles humans face. 

When reading this piece, it is quite easy to understand that one of the most challenging things a hummingbird must face is trying to recover from the pain of having several hundred heartbeats in a single minute. When a heart is “the size of a pencil eraser” (Doyle 1), more stress is put on the heart in order to keep a creature such as a hummingbird alive. This then causes “more heart attacks and aneurysms and rupture than any other living creature.” (Doyle 2). This use of words immediately brings the reader’s attention to the idea of the heart and how fragile it can be. A heart is presented with many difficulties throughout a lifetime. Most of these problems are found to be physical such as irregular heartbeats and even heart attacks. Although, usually problems such as these can be prevented or at least have tangible treatment methods. This is not, however, the case when a heart is put under emotional strain.

It may be difficult to think of something that would be worse than recovering from multiple heart attacks in given lifetime. However, humans experience something that might even parallel the pain that a hummingbird experiences. Human life is filled with moments that cause both happiness and sadness. Many times, humans grow tired of the pain resulting from sadness and heartache. Thus, prompting humans to figuratively build an emotional wall in order to prevent from growing too close to others and experiencing heartache once again. However, no matter how “stout and tight and hard and cold and impregnable” (Doyle 3) this wall may be, emotion will always be strong enough to knock it down. 

Under close analysis of “Joyas Volardores”, the reader focuses on the fact that the author’s purpose for writing this essay is not to speak about different species and how their hearts function, but rather to bring up a topic of discussion. This discussion being that humans tend to shy away from emotion when in fact humans should confront these emotions in order to build memories. All memories are not joyful, but “so much is held in a heart in a lifetime” (Doyle 3) that it is necessary to experience emotional pain in order to grow as a person. It is important to remember that the heart is a gateway where human beings connect with each other. In short, the human heart is an organ that undergoes its entire lifetime experiencing many different types of pain, both physical and emotional. Many times the people have a difficult and long journey with emotional pain. However, one of the greatest accomplishments a heart can achieve is recover from deep emotional strain. 
