        Every living thing on earth is connected. When looking at mankind and the animal kingdom, it is hard to deny the inevitable truth that all life has similarities which connects one another. From a physical characteristic point of view, we are all related. In the creative text, Joyas Voladores, Brian Doyle does a great job highlighting the similar characteristics between various kinds of life. Throughout the text, Doyle writes with an underlying meaning of how everything is connected.  In the creative text, Joyas Voladores, Doyle implies that all living things are similar in some way in order to show the connectivity of all life. 

The idea that every creature has a limited time to live with varying ages, but with yet such similar features encases the idea that our base roots connect us all to one another. For example, Doyle explains the similarity of limited heartbeats to one another and says, “ Every creature has approximately two billion heartbeats to spend in one lifetime”  (Doyle 95). By putting forth this fact, Doyle connects all creatures into one category; life. However, through this connection, Doyle brings a negative tone through how he explains all life is limited. The way he brings the negative tone is through how he explains the idea of spending. The recurring theme of spending time too fast or slow entails Doyle’s idea to make the most of the time you have alive. Doyle makes a connection between two very different animals about how differently their lives are lived, but also brings back the theme of how all creatures “spend” their lives doing different things. Doyle explains to us, “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 lived to be two years old”  (Doyle 95). Again, the idea that all creatures times are limited explains to us how we are all connected. The tortoise symbolically represents life's longevity and safety, while the hummingbird represents the shortness in life and the risks taken. In the end, both of these extreme animals, and all different animals located in the middle of these two age wise, remind us as people to not think of us as indifferent to other life, but being the same. 

Not only does all life share the same limited time aspect, but also physical characteristics. When looking at the anatomy of every animal, cell, or human, it is clear that the whole frame of life is connected through what is apparent. Doyle begins to explain a countdown of the complexity of hearts in certain organisms. He goes on to say, “Mammals and birds have hearts with four chambers … unicellular bacteria have no hearts at all”  (Doyle 96). Though not specifically specified, Doyle is not listing these facts just for our knowledge, but he is trying to prove a point in how the connectivity of life is all connected. By breaking down the comparison of hearts to an organism as small as a cell, and comparing it to very large organisms such as birds and mammals, it represents how similar life is no matter the size, and also just how different it is at the same time. In addition, the the comparison of the cellular level is made. Doyle says to us, “No living being is without interior liquid motion. We all churn on the inside”  (Doyle 96). By adding on this point Doyle further proves to us by not directly saying it how he believes that we may all stem from one root through connectivity. By saying “We all churn on the inside,” Doyle brings up another point which is there is a reason for everything we do. It is evolution and survival of the fittest. By saying we are all churning on the inside, Doyle may not only be talking about the liquid part of all living things, but also how we think. Doyle brings a good point to the table. Life as it is has made it here for a reason and how it is because of intelligence. It is not simply a coincidence that life is fully made up all life having interior liquid motion, which brings back the idea of all life being connected to one root. 

Though physical characteristics do connect us all, it is not the only thing which unites life. In addition to physical characteristics all organisms share the conscious thought of life and love. Through the repeated use of hearts and no other organs in the body, we begin to see the symbolism of what it may truly represent; love. Doyle talks about the largest creatures in the world, and says, “But we know this: the animals with the largest hearts in the world generally travel in pairs, and their penetrating moaning cries, their piercing yearning tongue, can be heard underwater for miles and miles”  (Doyle 96). Doyle creates the connection between large creatures to explain something deeper. When he says, “animals with the largest hearts in the world generally travel in pairs,” he is not only talking about the physical aspect, but also the mental, loving aspect. In this display, hearts not only mean the physical aspect about large creatures, but also how they connect to one another. Furthermore, when Doyle begins to talk about humans in the last paragraph, he makes probably the most impacting statement of the creative text to connect us all. He no longer talks about how the heart works, or other characteristics of physical attributes, but he talks about what the heart is really for. He says, “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 connecting statement speaks to us about how every moment impacts you no matter what life you are. He doesn’t specifically talk about humans in this statement for a reason, further proving his theory of underlying connectivity between all life. 

In Joyas Voladores Doyle writes with an underlying meaning that all living things are similar in some way in order to show the connectivity of all life. While all animals have different lifespans and what small physical characteristics they have, the underlying basis is, that we are all the same. From loving to emotionless organisms, there is something which links us all. We are all indifferent to one another, and the connections we all share prove how similar we truly are. 