
          The hummingbird lives two quick, full years. A blue whale lives a longer yet slower life. While the pace of each life varies drastically, the fact remains that they will both inevitably die. Death cannot be prevented, but Brian Doyle proves there are options for how to live a full life. He demonstrates that the difference between humans and these creatures is that humans hold a choice. Humans can choose the level of intensity they wish to achieve in their life while the animals discussed in Doyle’s piece are barred by their own physical limitations set upon them. The way these creature’s bodies function cannot be changed, they must adapt to their surroundings. Doyle delves into the options humans face, and the positive and negative results of the choices they make, through comparing the physical features of the whale and hummingbird. In”Joyas Voladores,” Brian Doyle argues through symbolizing the hummingbird’s and blue whale’s hearts, as well as through his deliberate word choice, that the way people choose to live creates the consequences they face, and therefore, affects the quality and fullness of their life. 

          Doyle explains the physical attributes of a hummingbird to describe a particularly fast way of living. This fast paced lifestyle, shown through the hummingbird’s rapid heartbeat, is desired by people who want to squeeze as much productivity in a short amount of time for fear of falling behind in today's society. However, because humans require rest, this intensity cannot be sustained. Doyle makes the reader want to fly through life as fast as possible by comparing the hummingbird’s heart to a race car. Hummingbirds seek thrill because “if they are not soon warmed” (Doyle, 95) their life will end. A constant, fast paced lifestyle is what keeps them alive. The only problem is the hummingbirds must spend all of their “gas” at one time, rather than stopping at a pit stop to refuel. Doyle commends the bird’s heart for leading a thrilling life but then shows the drawbacks because the bird burns out in two quick years. Hummingbirds cannot “rest” for long because of how their hearts work: “But when they rest they come close to death” (Doyle, 95). When Doyle describes rest as death, he emphasizes the negative outcome of living like a hummingbird. The human’s ideals of independence and choice may make them also view life as a hummingbird in a negative light because the bird is forced to live this way. While excitement makes life worth living, Doyle’s imagery of “the heart the size of an infant’s fingernail” (Doyle, 95) helps the reader understands that this life short lived.

          Doyle also uses the image of an infant’s fingernail to prove that this risk taking lifestyle appears as a personality at birth. It takes a certain kind of person to be able to live their life dangerously like a hummingbird. While the safer population may look down on those who seek the “rush,” Doyle uses “brilliant music”(Doyle, 95) being “stilled”(Doyle, 95) as a symbol of the death of a creature who lived a brilliantly full life. This choice of life is a lot shorter and a lot scarier, but worth it for those who fully appreciate it. Through the use of adjectives and the symbolism of the hummingbird's fast beating heart he explains the perks and drawbacks of a hummingbird's fast life without worry. 

          Blue whales, on the other hand, live long, slow lives. Doyle creates a mental image of a whale’s life when he describes the heart’s size as, “A child could walk around in it, head high, bending only to step through the valves” (Doyle, 95). With the child walking around “head high,” it shows another course of life with an abundance of space allowing for plenty of comfort room from the harsh outside world. Through exaggerating the vastness of the whale’s heart, Doyle shows that people who live this lifestyle insulate themselves from anything harmful. He also later uses the word “bending” to show people who live this way only go out of their way when they have to. If one lives like a whale, they float cautiously and follow all the rules set in place by other whale-type people. A life without bending is more straightforward and leisurely but the thrill of life is never mentioned. In this way, the life of a whale is shown in a negative light. However, later Doyle describes the positive gains of leading a cautious life when he writes, “[The whale] drinks a hundred gallons of milk from it's mama everyday and gains two hundred pounds a day”(Doyle, 95). Doyle shows through the progression of numbers in this sentence that leading this kind of lifestyle reaps more positive benefits with less work. The whale only drinks in one hundred gallons, but miraculously gains two hundred pounds. Through this Doyle symbolizes that by putting in a little bit of work, a person could double their benefits through this lifestyle. Doyle illustrates that living a slow, leisurely life is still worth living because it will be more plentiful. From a whale’s perspective, what someone gains from this lifestyle is worth more than any kind of rush from living the  in a hummingbird’s lifestyle.

          By explaining the physical limitations and advantages of each animal, Doyle allows the reader to decide how they think their life is best served as a human. He explains that humans have neither of the physical (symbolic) extremes in that: their hearts can rest without dying and they are not so large that their possibilities have restrictions. Whether one rapidly uses their limited heartbeats or not, Doyle explains the inevitable, “that all hearts finally are bruised and scarred” (Doyle, 96). Humans, just like anything living, will die. By using the word “spend”(Doyle, 95) when discussing heartbeats, Doyle exemplifies that, like spending money, the way one spends their heartbeats is their choice. You must spend them wisely because heartbeats, like money, will eventually run out. Doyle continues by using the numbers in sequence from highest to lowest when discussing the life expectancies of other animals to symbolize that no matter how one chooses to spend their life, it will still continue to dwindle away. Living life like a hummingbird rather than a whale (or vice versa) will not change the end result. Though this, he notes that the physical limitations in the end do not matter all that much, it's the personal choice that amounts to something.

         Depending on one's personality, life's measure of success is different. For one person, being an accountant with a family dependent on them sounds like a dream. But, for a totally different kind of person that sounds miserable. That individual would rather spend their life on the back of a motorcycle and making spontaneous decisions because they have complete independence. Humans are very lucky to be able to decide the course and speed of their own life because hummingbirds and whales cannot. A human can live slowly and cautiously like a whale, or quickly like a hummingbird, but both lifestyles are worth living. No matter how the heartbeats are spent, all living creatures will die, so it's the importance of choosing the right lifestyle for one's self that brings fulfillment.