Brian Doyle’s “Joyas Voladares” is a big metaphor to show how humans should live. The use of metaphors and the message he is trying to convey to readers is a trait that everyone should possess. The multiple amounts of metaphors that are used to describe the heart in different species goes to show the point Doyle was trying to make. Metaphors are used in this short story to convey how humans should live and how they should love.

In the opening paragraphs Doyle goes into describing the heart of a hummingbird, stating the size and speed. He also vividly portrays how hummingbirds live their life. This description drastically changes in the next paragraph when the hummingbird goes from being on the top of the world too facing death. “The price of their ambition is a life closer to death; they suffer heart attacks and aneurysms and ruptures more than any other living creature...You burn out. You fry the machine (95). This quote shows how their lives are a constant motion of movement and change and many humans live this way. Humans feel the urge to try and grow up as fast as possible and then work the rest of their life. This really takes a mental toll on those people later on in life. They might not be able to do things that other people, who took their time with life, could do. This is contradicted in the following paragraph when the tortoise is brought about. He states, “Every creature on earth has approximately two billion heartbeats to spend in a lifetime. You can spend them slowly, like a tortoise and live to be two hundred or live like a hummingbird and live to be two years” (Doyle 95). People have options in life and it is completely up to you how you live it. This creates a question of how people think they should live their lives. One day you can be on the top of the world but might not wake up the next morning. He wants the reader to pick up that life is fragile and we should live the way we fell fit. How people live their lives is up to them and that is what Doyle is saying. He is not choosing a specific side of going fast or slow but showing how two creatures that have two completely different lifestyles and how these lifestyles convey how humans chose to live. 

Even though the blue whale is the largest animal who ever lived, we know nothing about it. The readers are introduced to the whale and quickly learn that it has the biggest heart. " It’s as big as a room. It is a room, with four chambers. A child could walk around in it" (Doyle 96). This visualization that readers are given about the immense size of the whale’s heart creates an image in reader’s minds. It creates an image of comparison between the tiny hummingbird’s heart from before and the giant whale heart. Hearts keep living beings alive and no matter the size it takes care of that person/animal. Now humans are placed on earth to love someone or something but sometimes it takes a long while or some spark is needed to find that sense of love. Doyle points out that if we slow down we can live our lives longer as we are not as burnt out as the hummingbird gets. This goes back to the tortoise but then he is able to connect it to the whale, who also lives as long as the tortoise, with the sense of love they have with their big hearts. “But we know the mammals with the largest hearts generally travel in pairs, and their penetrating moaning cries, their piercing yearning tongue, can be heard underwater for miles and miles” (Doyle 96). This illustrates that the big hearts show them how to love. They slow down and take care of each other as humans who are in love would do. The point of this metaphor is to show how different species really care for each-other.

The most important aspect of his story comes in the final paragraph. “So much held in a heart in a lifetime. So much held in a heart in a day, an hour, a moment’ (Doyle 96). This means that life is so important and people need to take advantage of the life they have. No matter how they live it, fast or slow, just take advantage of everything. Humans hearts break all the time but they repair and rebuild but are still very fragile. This connects to the house we live in that he starts to talk about. People coming in and out of our lives every day and when we try ignoring people it is like putting a fence around your house but eventually someone will break through and either build you up or tear you down. It is up to you to decide what your heart wants. The memories he brings up are what your heart holds and what you love is still there even with the scars around it.  

Brian Doyle’s, “Joyas Voladares,” was a passage that uses extensive metaphors to figure out what humans need to do to live and love in their lifetime. With the use of the hummingbird, tortoise, and whale’s hearts, readers learn that different species all are connected in the ways we live and how we love one another. It also goes to show that all species on Earth all act and grow in the same ways even if it may not seem like it. The message Doyle wanted to show was to live and love every moment whether it be fast or slow, as it was your last and cherish every moment you are given. Live how you decide to live and do not let anyone else affect it. 
