We underestimate the heart.  Immediately delving into Joyas Volardores, Brian Doyle shows us physically and tangibly what a heart is truly capable of. However, Doyle does more than show us the physical, beneath all the facts and extraordinary feats we see a deeper meaning form representing the heart’s capacities. Doyle shows us the heart through an emotional way that we all can empathize and are familiar with, if we can reach the level of understanding he is trying to convey in his message of hearts’. However, more importantly than what Doyle shows through the heart of a hummingbird, blue whale, and ourselves, is how Doyle shows us with use of his distinct language and versatile literary devices. 

Doyle begins with the hummingbird’s heart. He describes the hummingbird’s heart vividly through varies lengths, heights, touch, depth, and speed. Doyle’s use of suburb imagery invites the reader to visualize and venerate humming-birds. “When cold or hungry a hummingbird’s heart will come next to stand still in a risky bargain to maintain its life.”(Doyle), by the use of his suburb imagery mentioned earlier, Doyle allows the reader to form a certain sympathy for the hummingbird when he speaks of their hardships and fatalities. Next, Doyle uses diction to describe to us the incredible feats the hummingbirds do every day. How an author chooses to uses diction distinguishes the difference of how the reader will interpret their text. For example, “…rate slowing to a fifteenth of their normal sleep rate, their hearts sludging nearly to a halt,” (Doyle) the diction and language used on the hummingbirds are always on one end of the intensity spectrum. Doyle’s literature is used for the purpose of bringing all of the seemingly separate hearts’ through a bridge where they all connect. The purpose of the hummingbird’s heart is to show us the similar ability in our own heart. A human’s heart has the potential to endure and thrive under the right conditions and mentalities, but can crumple just as easily without them.  

Doyle continues not with one of the smallest hearts, but the biggest in the world. The blue whale’s heart. Doyle changes his language and diction to better describe and understand the blue whales. For example, “It is waaaaay bigger than your car” (Doyle) in this quote the reader sees the enlargement of the word “way” to symbolize the enormity of the blue whale’s heart. Furhermore, Doyle uses factual and physical measurements to describe the way, but knows next to nothing else of the blue whale. Doyle uses this to make an analogy to our own hearts. We know what despair, grief, happiness, and love feel like, the difference is we don’t know why or how we feel. Doyle conveys the message that although we are familiar with what we feel, there is still so much we do not understand about how or why we feel them. I also firmly believe Doyle tries to tie the enormity of the blue whale and its analogy of feelings to those in our society with “big” hearts. Those that have been through grueling hardship and strife yet still manage to have such compassion and endearment for others and life. “ 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.” Through this excerpt one can see that those with the biggest hearts respond to the ask for help, and because of this they end up travelling in pairs with those with similar mentalities. 

Throughout the whole passage that Doyle lays out for us I think the single most important piece to take away is the heart. No living creature lives without an “interior liquid motion” (Doyle). Our heart creates the motion inside necessary for all of us to continue to live. Doyle uses this to describe that though we may be all different we are continuously moved by something. We spend our lives opening our doors to others. To those closest to us we reveal all of us, but never our hearts. That no one can completely understand what a single human can feel at that moment or their past, and if they did understand they would never force one to reveal their heart for they know exactly just how fragile the heart is. Those that are wise understand that the heart that is capable of so much is also the most vulnerable piece of each one of us. Doyle begins this passage by making you fall in love with the abilities of the heart and continues with keep you in wonder, and finally finishes with showing you that the heart is as vulnerable as it is amazing. Almost as importantly is how the heart of a human became so powerful. Our hearts will never be perfect. We are all scarred, bent, spit on, thrown away, and discarded. However, through these struggles we harden our hearts. More importantly acquire the knowledge needed to help avoid oneself and their loved one’s mistakes over again. 

The Joyas Volardores elegantly describes the powers and vulnerabilities of the heart in a way that leaves you in wonder. From the physical aspects of the heart Doyle brings out the strength required to sustain an organism, and from the emotional Doyle shows up how weak and fragile a heart can be despite its seemingly insurmountable characteristics. The heart is critical, both our biggest strength and at the same time the reason for our inevitable downfall. Doyle does a phenomenal job in trying to convey all of these messages, and it was possible through the use of language and literary devices.  
