
Every living organism on Earth possesses its own unique qualities. We all have different physical properties that define who and what we are. Each species is identifiable by its specific traits and behaviors that are naturally inherited. There are many characteristics that define what we are, but the features all organisms have in common are much broader in scope than simply physical appearance. 

One experience that every living thing on Earth cannot escape is death.  Death, although not a tangible thing, is an experience that all living organisms will eventually encounter. There is no way around death, therefore, life should not be taken for granted while it is happening. A physical feature that many living organisms have is a heart. Brian Doyle uses the heart as both a physical and emotional symbol in his short story, “Joyas Volardores”.  In his story he expresses a message that a heart contains more than just blood. By comparing the hummingbird’s petite heart to that of a massive blue whale, Doyle conveys his thoughts on the heart as a vessel of both emotional memories as well as its physical attributes of life sustaining muscle and blood.  

Doyle begins by describing the hummingbird to the fullest extent possible. He comments on nearly every feature of the small and very unique bird. “A hummingbird’s heart beats ten times a second,” the author states, and then rambles on about the many features that the hummingbird possesses (Doyle 94). He describes its minute size and heart, and discusses how far it can travel and at what specific speeds; the hummingbird is clearly a symbol that the author uses to express his message. To Doyle, the focal point of the bird is its heart, and he uses the physical properties of the heart to describe a deeper, underlying message. 

The hummingbird’s heart beats roughly ten times per second due to its extremely high metabolism. It must move at insanely fast speeds in order to continue to live, otherwise the fragile birds heart will cease to beat and it will die. Due to its extremely fast heart rate and body movements, the hummingbird’s life expectancy is much less than humans and other animals. The author 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 years old, or you can spend them fast like a hummingbird, and live to be two years old” (Doyle 95). Doyle explains how the hummingbird’s fast paced life only allows it to live for roughly two years, meaning it must constantly be at work. The stress on its heart from the constant beating and fast paced movement is what kills the bird over a much quicker span than a human’s lifetime. Doyle states, “The price of their ambition is a life closer to death,” meaning that the day to day stress on the heart is what scars and destroys the heart, and thus the bird.  His message however, is that while our hearts’ physical work is what leads us closer to death, the heart lives on eternally through the memories and experiences we make. 

The blue whale is the second creature used as a symbol by Doyle. Being much larger than the hummingbird, Doyle uses the blue whale to emphasize the contrast between heart sizes in the two animals. Doyle states about the whale’s heart, “It’s as big as a room. It is a room, with four chambers. A child could walk around it, head high, bending only to step through the valves” (Doyle 95). Doyle stresses just how large the blue whale is, as well as how little we know about the species. The size comparison of the two organisms leads the reader to realize that they both have the same organ inside of them, but each works on different scales. The hummingbird’s heart has a tremendous amount of unceasing stress on it because of its fast-paced lifestyle; whereas the blue whale has a much slower and laid back life, allowing it to live much longer than the hummingbird. In the end, both hearts will eventually come to a halt and cease to beat another day. Both animals will pass away and an entire lifetime will be gone, but Doyle feels both remain as memories held in the emotional heart. Two totally different creatures, and both with hearts that contain much more than just blood. 

All living organisms have a heart or an analogous organ with the same function. Doyle makes this point very clear when he states, “No living being is without interior liquid motion. We all churn inside” (Doyle 96). We all churn inside, and we all use our hearts to the fullest extent throughout our lives by pushing it further than it should be pushed. Not only does the heart pump blood to supply oxygen throughout our body, but it carries a whole lifetime of memories as well. “So much held in a heart in a lifetime. So much held in a heart in a day, an hour, a moment. We are utterly open with no one in the end,” says the author (Doyle 96). The heart is physically destroyed over a lifetime; it pumps blood constantly from our first breath to our last. Doyle explains how we constantly are moving toward death, where we will always be alone. The heart will cease pumping, and its host will no longer live. The only thing that will survive are the memories and experiences in the emotional, rather than the physical, heart. 

Doyle focuses on the physical characteristics of the two animals he describes in detail throughout his short story. The concluding paragraph is where the author begins to shift from the physical properties of the heart and the two animals to the emotional, metaphorical side of the heart, and how he perceives the human heart. 

Doyle states, “We open windows to each but we live alone in the house of the heart. Perhaps we must. Perhaps we could not bear to be so naked, for fear of a constantly harrowed heart” (Doyle 96). We as humans open our hearts to others so that we can share memories and experiences with others in our lifetime. In the end, all we have are the memories and experiences we made and have stored in our hearts with us forever. Doyle uses the heart as a symbol for eternal peace.  He does this by expertly conveying that the heart contains much more than just blood and muscle, and that the memories of the heart are what we will always have with us, regardless of when we encounter death. 