The way someone loves and lives their live is closely correlated with their past experiences and how they let those specifically affect their life. We fear the unknown and sometimes dread being exposed to the world that has caused us pain. In Brian Doyle’s “Joyas Volardores”, he uses a hummingbird and a blue whale, giving two different scenarios of the creatures’ hearts, he compares two totally different animals to the way humans live.  With the use of metaphors Doyle connects all living things through the heart, while still being able to illustrate the vulnerabilities and wounds we all face from live experiences. 

Doyle starts the essay telling the reader to just imagine for a moment that we are hummingbirds. Imagine that we have a heart that is the size of a pencil eraser that beats ten times per second. Hummingbirds have fast pace heart beats that leave them unable to rest. The irony of the fast pace life is through all “of their ambition [their] life closer to death; they suffer more heart attacks and aneurysms and ruptures than any other living creature” (95).  Hummingbirds evolved to have a fast heartbeat to keep up with their active lifestyles, but they still burnout after two years.  

People have the tendency to always be on the move never wanting to slow down. When they are not moving in a fast pace way they feel like there is something that can or needs to be done. Doyle switches focus of hummingbirds to us, humans, by using “you”, which makes the readers feel as if he is personally talking to them. Those who feel the need to all was be doing something do not get the chance to actually experience the precious things in life. Although our bodies may be made to keep up with the fast life, our bodies will eventually, like the hummingbird, burnout. There is no correct way to live your life, Doyle just 

Doyle goes on to talk in the next portion, about blue whales, who have the biggest hearts. A whale’s heart is seven tons, has four chambers, and is big enough for a child to walk through without having to bend. Doyle giving the detailed description of a seven ton whale heart compared to the pencil eraser sized hummingbird’s heart, illustrates the difference of their heart, they live two different life styles, but both animals depend on their heart. There is a lot of information on hummingbirds. Whale live a very slow pace live, but they can get up to 40 years of age. They travel all over the ocean getting to experience different scenery, seeing different fish, and swim through new waters. Whales do not have a speedy heart like the hummingbird, but they get to live a longer life and get more from their life. Those who decide to live like a whale, stop linger for a while then migrate to the next thing, expose themselves to new things and different people.

Doyle is able to relate two very different organisms together, whales and hummingbirds, and also reptiles, fish and even worms. Despite the immense differences in structure, habits, and habitats, the underlying similarity between all forms of live is the heart. 

The last paragraph of the essay, Doyle is bringing the readers back to reality, he is no longer talking about animals’ hearts, he switches the focus to humans. He states “So much held in a heart in a lifetime, we need to take pride in our lives, don’t take it for granted. So much held in a heart in a day, an hour, a moment”. Meaning that every second we live is important.  He doesn’t use any metaphors in this line, to set the tone of seriousness. He refers to our heart as a house, we build walls to protect ourselves from being “bruised and scarred”. We are going to face hardships and gain new scarps and bruises. But we cannot keep the door shut on new opportunities because we do not want to any more bruises. Being vulnerable is hard for some to do, life is being about feeling vulnerable sometimes allowing your heart to be open. Life is never easy and people will consistently throw stones at your house to bring you tear you down. 

But although we feel as if no one could ever understand the emptiness that we feel in our hearts, Doyle uses “we” often to reiterate to readers that this is something that everyone is going through.  

The heart is the first organ that is developed during a pregnancy, and is the last to stop function when we die. It is one of most important organs that we have in our body. The way we chose to live our life to ultimately guard our heart from the trials and tribulations that are thrown at us is up to you. Brian Doyle gives readers two ways to look at life, living in the rapid life or taking life one moment at a time. There is no correct way to live your life, Doyle just wants readers to know that cannot spend life with fear of being vulnerable.