In “Joyas Voladores”, the author, Bryan Doyle, uses many different methods to place emphasis on the finite nature of life in all things.  The author uses the finitude to prompt readers to enjoy and savor life and open up their hearts, before it inevitably stops beating.  To begin, the author asks the reader to consider the hummingbird.  Before we delve into the hummingbird, we can see that the author is choosing to write to the reader.  As the passage goes forward this style of writing gives the passage a more personal, intimate feel, as if the author is speaking directly to the reader.

Back to the hummingbird, the second sentence immediately gives the impression of speed.  Not only the content of the sentence, but it’s structure and its placement in the passage.  Doyle states, “A hummingbird’s heart beats ten times a second.”  This sentence seems simple, but the simplicity is what gives it it’s meaning.  The sentence is intentionally concise to represent the speed of the hummingbird.  The sentence is also the second one in the passage, which furthers the representation of quickness of the hummingbird.  Finally, the content of the sentence ends the representation of speed and sets the theme of the heart for the rest of the passage.  As the first paragraph continues we see repetition in the sentence structure.  The second, third, and fourth sentences all begin with “A hummingbird’s heart…”, which further presses the theme of the heart from the starting point of the passage.  This constant hammering of the concept of extraordinary speed opens up the idea of finitude in life.  It is not expressly stated until later, however the first paragraph gives the image of constant motion in the life of a hummingbird.  A hummingbird uses every moment for action, rarely pausing to rest.  This presents to the reader one possibility of how life is spent.  A hummingbird’s life is in constant motion, with no time for intimacy.  They are presented as the equivalent of a businessman, spending his finite number of days traveling and working.  The second paragraph gives a solid statement on the abrupt end of the hummingbird’s life.  Doyle states, “When they rest they come close to death…their hearts grow cold, and they cease to be.”  The author uses the theme of the heart in this line as well.

In the next paragraph, Doyle continues using the hummingbird analogy, however he changes tone.  In the prior paragraphs he seemed almost admiring of the hummingbirds’ immense power and speed in such a small creature.  In this paragraph, Doyle is more factual and informative.  He uses scientific terminology to describe the metabolism, muscle structure, and heart functions of the hummingbird.  He seems to almost take pity in the hummingbirds’ short lifespan as he says, “The price of their ambition is a life closer to death…It’s expensive to fly.  You burn out. You fry the machine. You melt the engine.”  The hummingbird continues however, as a perfect analogy to a businessman.  They work hard for a long time, but eventually stress takes over, and they burn out. They fry the machine.  They melt the engine.  This allows us to better grasp the meaning of this finitude in our own lives.  At this point in the passage, Doyle gives a solid number, a set time period from the beginning of life, to the end.  Each creature is allocated approximately two billion heartbeats in their lifetime.

The hummingbird was shown as the ever moving creature that uses all of its heartbeats as quick as it possibly can, but in the next paragraph the passage moves to a larger creature, with a larger heart that beats much slower and calmer.  Doyle begins to speak about the blue whale by expressing the enormity of its heart and body.  In relation to humans a rural farmer would be the best analogy for a blue whale.  Doyle states, “the animals with the largest hearts in the world generally travel in pairs.”  This statement shows the intimacy that these animals value.  Something a hummingbird, or businessman in the case of humans, place lower on their list of priority.  A rural farmer does not go about his business with the utmost efficiency.  He does his work as part of a daily routine, speaks with neighbors and good friends, and spends time with his family.  A blue whale and a rural farmer live long, slow lives, but they are content.  They do not do all things with uncanny speed like the hummingbird, and they do not have much to show at the end of their lives like the businessman.  While the prior two spend their two billion heartbeats at breakneck speed, the latter tend to slow them down and savor every beat.  This is a stark contrast that allows us to better see the options that we as humans have in our own lives.  We can choose to be like the hummingbird or the whale, even though we all have the same amount of heartbeats in the end.

The fourth paragraph talks about the hearts of other creatures.  This seems like there would be no connection to the finitude theme, however this is a continuing analogy to human life.  Although people all have different world views, opinions, thoughts, and bonds, as Doyle says, “We all churn inside.”  He says that we all have heartbeats and we are all using them in our own ways.  The repetition of the word heart in the passage is almost resembling of a heartbeat itself.  This gives the feeling that even as we read this passage we are expending some of our heartbeats and furthers the idea of finitude in each of the readers’ lives.

The final paragraph finally brings together all of the prior examples into a comparison to human lives.  This paragraph talks about the heart and that we all are alone.  Doyle says, “we must live alone in the house of the heart.”  This furthers the theme of the finite nature of life because it states that no one but us can choose how we live and spend our heartbeats.  Doyle states, “When young we think that there will come one person who will savor and sustain us always.”  As children we are guided in certain directions based on who raised us.  We are guided in choosing how we spend our heartbeats, but as an adult we realize it is our own choice.

The theme of finitude is prevalent in “Joyas Voladores”.  Doyle gives the feeling of a countdown in all living things, but he also gives us the feeling that we have the ability to control the speed of the clock.  He gives the obvious theme of the heart in the passage and is able to tie that and examples of animals into a great comparison to human life and life choices.