In “Joyas Volardores” the author, Brian Doyle, talks about the heart for the whole story. He discusses with it with a few examples of different animals and how their hearts work. For the most part of the story he only talks of the heart in biological terms, speaking about how much blood it is pumping through the body of these animals, and how their specific heart is meant for them. He contradicts the size of the heart to the animal’s abilities and actions. However in small parts of each topic he brings up, he makes subtle references to the metaphorical heart in which we think of emotions and love. Doyle uses repetition and a transition from the physical function of the heart to its emotional connotation to show that the size of the heart is no indication of how the animal is perceived.

A cliché theme in many childhood stories is that you cannot judge a book by its cover. You may see something boring or plain on the outside of the book, but the inside can have so much more. It can be unique and interesting but you would never make that assumption from seeing from the outside. Brian Doyle first talks about the hummingbird, or the Joyas volardores, as the first explorers in the Americas called them (Doyle 94). He explains their small size in great detail. “A hummingbird’s heart is the size of a pencil eraser” (94). From the first look at a hummingbird you would not expect much from them. They are barely the size of your fist. However, the insides of these creatures are so complex and interesting. That tiny little heart is beating at a million miles per mile. “Each one visits a thousand flowers a day. They can dive at sixty miles an hour. They can fly backwards. They can fly more than five hundred miles without pausing to rest” (95). Most humans do not even get the equivalent of that much done in a week, and they do all of that in just 24 hours without stopping. He uses that repetition of “they can” to show how much this miniscule creature can achieve. Doyle even goes on to explain the heart of the hummingbird in vivid detail. He talks about the thinner fibers that their hearts are made up of, with much more mitochondria and stiff arteries to keep oxygen flowing at a very rapid rate. Looking at this small little bird, you would not expect all of this going on inside of it, as well as what they do in one day’s work. 

After doing research, you can find out so much more about an animal that you thought was as simple as its size. The blue whale however is a little bigger than a hummingbird. It is actually the largest animal on this planet. And with having the largest mass of any species, it also has the biggest heart. “It weighs more than seven tons. It’s as big as a room. It is a room, with four chambers” (95). Again Doyle uses repetition to show that this massive organ of the blue whale is as big as a room! But as massive as the animal is, it is strange we do not know much about them. Doyle talks about when the blue whale is born, that it weights nearly 7 tons and drinks hundreds of gallons of milk from its mother every day, trying to gain 200 pounds each day (95). But after this, researchers do not know much more about them. “It endures an unimaginable puberty and then it essentially disappears from human ken, for next to nothing is known of the mating habits, travel patterns, diet, social life, language, social structure, diseases... of the blue whale” (95). It is funny to think that the largest animal in the world, seems to be a rare sighting after they start to grow. With thousands of them in almost every ocean, and being able to make a mate call from many miles away, how do we know such about these species after they grow up? It also seems to be a bit ironic that the largest animal that is at the top of the food chain is also an endangered species. When you think of animals high up on the food chain, you think they are invincible and will rule forever, but that is not the case for the blue whale. Sometimes even the strongest have their weaknesses, but you cannot always see that through visual perception.

After going over these two animals thoroughly, Doyle ends his story with one last animal: the human. In the last paragraph, he goes about with a deep meaning of the life of all human beings, not so much about their biological make up and structure of the heart. Here he talks about how we hold things in our heart like love and family. We keep moments and relationships that we think will last forever with us. In a harsh but honest truth, Doyle says that although we think we are open and have so much trust in people, we still keep some things hidden. “Perhaps we could not bear to be so naked, for fear of a constantly harrowed heart” (96). Even to ourselves sometimes we are not what we think. In the end we truly only trust ourselves fully. All hearts will eventually feel pain physically or emotionally. He says everyone will feel it “no matter how ferocious the defense and how many bricks you bring to the wall” (96). Even people that seem to have no emotions, or try to keep them inside, will be crushed. Although you see someone who looks fine and strong on the outside, they can be going through something you could not even imagine on the inside. The heart has just as much emotional significance as it does concrete. 

Through a first quick read of “Joyas Volardores”, it is easy to see that he is talking about a bird and a whale, and some of the characteristics of their heart. After a closer read, and through the use of the element of repetition, you may see the bigger picture that is illustrated throughout. A small little bird is much more complex and unique than just that. A giant airplane sized mammal of the sea, is almost a mystery to us. He also moves from the concrete explanation to the abstract of the heart. Even as humans, thinking we understand everything there is to know about life, we can be broken and views can change instantly. Perception is not always as it may look. 
