
In Joyas Voladoras, by Brian Doyle, He explains that the life journey is short or long, inevitable, and it eventually comes to an end for everyone and everything. He states that the significance of life is how the experience is spent throughout the lifespan. Through his lifespan he figured out that everyone is so different yet so similar. In conclusion he shares his life experience by using comparative analogy of animals, windows, and heart to convey his opinion that life is mortal, lonely and hurtful. The use of the comparative analogy is to display the aspects of death, life and memory. 

Doyle introduces contrasting animals to the mortality of humans, “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 years old, or you can spend them fast, like a hummingbird, and live to be two years old” (Doyle). Doyle uses the tortoise and hummingbird to state that everyone in this world lives a different life, and experiences a very different way of life.  Doyle establish that every creature has two billion heartbeats, but the life can be either spent fast or slow. He portrays how it is significant to value every moment within those two billion heartbeats. Doyle describes how hummingbirds live a delicate lifestyle, which shortens their lifespan to two years. The tortoise is very robust and lives a lifestyle that outlives the hummingbird one hundred times. He experiences life like a race from the start, the birth to the end, death. He mentions that from the day he was born, that he was in control of his fate in a fast or slow life. The main point he is conveying is to not live a fast nor slow life but to live on the equilibrium point between the slow and fast, which is the satisfactory point. Within that equilibrium point he wants humans to adore every moment of our two billion heartbeats. Doyle explains how humans all travel the same distance, but everyone travels at a different pace. His meaning behind the ideal lifestyle is to live in between the fast and slow pace, and to live every second like it is your last.  To every start of a life there an end, furthermore he reminds everyone that life is mortal. Doyle’s core point is that humans have the choice of quality way of life, which will depict the life expectancy.

Doyle argues that the only window to curing loneliness is by expressing through the words that come out of the mouth, “We open windows to each other but we live alone in the house of the heart” (Doyle). Humans have been around on Earth for hundreds and thousands of years to live the mortal life. In that mortal life, Doyle have studied many creatures that vary in size from massive to microscopic. He knows such creatures exist, and he studies them until there is no information left. Therefore, he does not have the knowledge of what these creatures are thinking. With that said Doyle knows that humans know other humans exist, but he does not know what each of the humans is going through. However, humans can open up their figurative hearts to other people, but they may not know truly what is felt. No matter the place nor the people, humans are at a dead-end of loneliness. He states that loneliness is permanent, and it comes to stay. Humans try to block out that loneliness, but it is cured temporarily. However, humans can express our inner-emotions, but there is no cure for life’s loneliness, therefore humans must abide to living with loneliness. Doyle explains that humans must realize that billions of people are experiencing the same feeling. It is the only medicine to aid us when loneliness is felt. 

Doyle implies how the heart is healed by time, “When young we think there will come one person who will savor and sustain us always; when we are older we know this is the dream of a child, that all hearts finally are bruised and scarred, scorned and torn, repaired by time and will, patched by force of character, yet fragile and rickety forevermore, no matter how ferocious the defense and how many bricks you bring to the wall” (Doyle). Doyle experiences how when he was born, he had the natural mindset of how life’s path is going to be wonderfully planned, flawless, and a piece of cake. In reality he was hit with the cold truth of life that bombards the heart. The harshness damages and wounds his heart. His figurative heart evolves and strengthens through past experiences. He states how in this world there are numerous obstacles that humans endure on a daily basis that stresses our souls. The soul of Doyle is tender, yet strong enough to permanently protect him from harm. Through his experience his hearts are torn into pieces, but later rebuilt with reinforcement. When humans come in contact with reality, humans take in the utter harshness that straightens our visions. At the end of the day, his heart is stronger than ever before and has won the battle.

Humans are mortal, lonely, and hurt; he goes over how humans must be wise to carve the path of our mortal life. He wants to let everyone know that life is a journey on a roller coaster ride. Doyle compares the cat with a broken spine to how life is hurtful, “A cat with a broken spine dragging itself into the forest to die, the brush of your mother’s papery ancient hand in the thicket of your hair, the memory of your father’s voice early in the morning echoing from the kitchen where he is making pancakes for his children” (Doyle). Within that ride, he experiences ups and downs that injure our heart. However, it is temporary and only you are the one that experiences it the best. The injuries shape us as human beings. The moral of this story is loneliness and mortality is impactful. No one can experience our lives better than ourselves. Doyle answer how humans can share their experiences or emotions, but no one can understand like humans can understand ourselves. On the day humans are born, humans want to try to create an identity for ourselves. He desires an identity to stand out from the regular crowd that he endure meet every day.  Humans can temporarily block out pain on the short-term, but not on the long-term. A human lives a lonely and hurtful life that ends with death.

He remembers the dead through the memories that were made throughout the lifespan. Humans grasp memories that could never be reality, memories that are bare inside our hearts, and memories that are shared through the generations. Memories share the past to the present, but they are not the same to experiencing it in real life. Humans must cherish the little moments when they happen. When the little things in life disappear, he begins to notice and miss them. Death is significant because it makes us appreciate and realize the things that are gone.

What is the purpose of living if humans are going to die at the end? This is a question that is asked by many people, but there is no answer. Doyle propose that humans strive to make our names out to the world because humans want to be remembered when dead. The memories will be engraved to the world and live an immortal life. Memories will be passed down generation to generation that will be trending and trending.  Doyle uses comparative analogy to successfully come to a conclusion that the main aspects of human life is to travel through mortality, loneliness and hurtfulness.             