When reading Brian Doyle's short essay, “Joyas Voladoras” one could infer that the text is solely focused on hearts. However, the essay delves onto much more than what the title lets on by portraying a message that goes much more in depth. The author goes into great length and detail on multiple animals, specifically the hummingbird, relaying the importance and structures of their hearts. However, it is not hummingbirds or other animals for that matter are not what we should be worried about. It can be argued that through imagery, Doyle’s intentions are to remind his audience just how pivotal and meaningful our lives are to us. He reminds us in detail of just how the heart is quite fragile most hearts can be among a number of organisms. 

Doyle’s routine use of imagery is what helps convey the notion that life and time are both precious things we must continuously cherish. Doyle’s notion unfolds in the beginning of the text where he goes on to discuss in excessive aspects about the hummingbird’s heart; of how it is used to describe how such a small creature with such a small heart could produce such powerful exertion. Doyle acknowledges the fact that a hummingbird’s heart is about the size of a “pencil eraser” and also states how this little heart also beats at a rate of “ten times per second” (). With these two facts coupled so close together, the author leans his audience to create a mental picture of the “pencil erasers” and compare them to our own. Within these lines, we realize that a hummingbird must work at an unfathomable rate in order to keep itself going. It is at this point where the audience is guided toward the notion that Doyle is subtly referring to our own hearts. While the audience is focused on how tedious a hummingbird must work to ensure its own survival, the author subliminally wants his audience to take a step back and look at their own lives in comparison. Doyle wants his audience to think of the greater picture, as he goes on to say "if they are not soon warmed, if they do not soon find that which is sweet, their hearts grow cold, and they cease to be" (Doyle, 2008). Over time, individuals experience multiple cases of heartache and pain. It is because of this pain that results in causing “their hearts to grow cold” (Doyle, 2008). We all have that “sweet” thing that keeps us going and makes us feel all warm inside. For hummingbirds, it’s the sweet nectar from countless flowers. For humans, there could be numerous reasons, such as family, friends, love, and so on. Yet once we lose that driving force that continuously kept us warm, little by little, we lose that warmth deep within our hearts. As a result, we grow and become emotionless. Essentially, we lose who we are as a person ultimately terminating our personal characters. 

Analyzing the text even further, in the latter of the essay, Doyle imparts the idea that we humans consciously “open windows to each but we live alone in the house of the heart” (Doyle, 2008), portraying the heart as if it were our personal homes. We open these windows to one another simply because we are afraid to let anyone in. “We are utterly open with no one in the end…” Because of continuous scars of their past, humans don't like to open up and reveal themselves to others. Little by little, we become less social it ultimately comes to a point where we become completely closed books emotionally. It is only when we reveal ourselves to others we become comfortable and in turn vulnerable, or “naked” (Doyle, 2008). There’s this fear we have of becoming so vulnerable because in the end, we will be wounded emotionally. The fear is caused by common aspects of life, such as death, a break up, divorce, argument, etc., thus creating a “harrowed heart” (Doyle, 2008). That anxiety of feeling discomfort and broken up constantly. Eventually, over time we lose that trust factor and begin to mount or “brick up” our defenses around these homes to shield us from the many pains life brings about. Yet no matter how “stout and tight and hard and cold and impregnable” we build these defenses, we are still human and those barricades can be knocked down by the many joys that life has to offer.

Doyle use of description throughout the text both conveys and illustrates the importance of what pumps behind each of our chests. Doyle wants individuals to realize that all organisms depend on the heart. In the end, the notion that Doyle is attempting to get across is that humans must accept all aspects of life both good and bad in order to have a true balance in life. Humans must all learn to accept the fact that harsh times are inevitable, but humans must also be willing to accept that idea to begin with. We do everything we can to make sure we are not susceptible to that very pain. Yet no matter how hard we may try to mount up a stone wall around our hearts, they will always be delicate, thus prone to pain just like the hummingbird. That doesn’t mean we should shut people out and push them away, because they are what bring joy to overcome that sorrow.  
