At first glance of “Joyas Valdores”, the essay written by Brian Doyle, one might believe it is merely an informative essay on the anatomy of hummingbirds. Especially since he uses a different name for the hummingbird (Joyas Valdores) as the title of the essay. But after further interpretation and analysis, it becomes easier to see that Doyle uses the hummingbirds and their extremely fast beating heats to show the reader how fragile and beautiful life is. Doyle’s key concept of the heart of a hummingbird helps him to establish a certain line of thinking within his readers’ minds to act as a warning against living life too fast.

Without even hesitating Brian Doyle starts off by getting the reader thinking. But not just about anything. With his first sentence he asked the reader to “consider the humming bird for a long moment” (Hayden-McNeil, 94). In order for him to get his point across with his essay he had to first set the path in which he wanted his reader’s minds to follow. Because what is a better way to help someone understand a concept than to personally push it right into their heads. Furthermore, Doyle continues on about these “flying jewels”, as he calls them in the first paragraph of his essay. He gives background after background of seemingly useless information about hummingbirds, causing the reader to feel as though they know everything about the species. He then begins to set a particular mood of awe when he says, “their hearts hammering faster than we would clearly hear if we pressed our elephantine ears to their infinitesimal chests” (Hayden-McNeil, 94). Doyle does an excellent job of providing an emotional stimulus towards the hummingbird species. That sentence alone completely changes the mood of the piece. It establishes an emotional connection between the reader and these beautiful, fragile creatures. 

Continuing on, Doyle provides even more detail about a day in the life of a hummingbird. From visiting a thousand flowers a day to the capabilities of flying backwards, and even flying more than five hundred miles without even having to stop for a little rest. But this time the details regarding the hummingbird are much different. Doyle’s descriptions and informative material comes across more real and slightly shocking. For example, the next sentence in his essay is;” But when they come to rest the come close to death: on frigid nights, or when they are starving, the retreat into torpor, their metabolic rate slowing to a fifteenth of their normal sleep rate, their hearts sludging nearly to a halt, barely beating, and if they aren’t soon warmed their hearts grow cold, and they cease to be” (Hayden-McNeil, 95). Throughout his whole essay that very long sentence is the point where Doyle starts to finally make his point. Before that, everything he said about the hummingbird was pleasant, giving them a since of beauty and freedom, until he turned the wheel entirely focusing on the negative effects of the hummingbird’s lifestyle. The reader can start to understand some of the dangers that can be encountered by these tiny creatures. With the mood changing from almost fantasy-like earlier in the essay to a little more real, the reader starts to get the feeling of how fragile a hummingbird can be.

Correspondingly, to Doyle introducing the hardships faced by the hummingbird species, he moves back to the pure anatomy of the hummingbird, focusing mainly on the structure of and difficulties faced by the heart of a hummingbird. This part is ever so important because it causes the reader to become more relatable to the topic Doyle is discussing. At this point in the essay the author goes on to explain nearly everything about a hummingbird’s heart starting with, “they have race-car hearts that eat oxygen at an eye-popping rate” (Hayden-McNeil, 95). He explains how the life of a hummingbird outs an extreme amount of stress and weight on a heart, resulting in more heart attacks, aneurysms, and ruptures than any other animal on the planet. People generally can relate to this topic and find it much more interesting than merely discussing the hardships faced by hummingbirds, because heart attacks, aneurysms, and ruptures happen just as commonly in people. This helps it become easier to understand the point in which Doyle is attempting to reveal: The price of the lifestyle in which the hummingbird lives, is living a life closer to death, no matter how you look at it. He demonstrates how life can go by in the blink of an eye, and the hummingbird lifestyle is not the way to capture it. Especially when he says, “Every creature on earth has approximately two billion heartbeats in a lifetime. 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 live to be two years old” (Hayden-McNeil, 95). Doyle offers up an ultimatum to the reader, to spark thought on one subject in particular. Is it better to try and achieve all life has to offer in a short period of time, possibly missing out on many amazing things, or slow it down and live a life cherishing every single moment for as long as one can? 

With that ultimatum, Brian Doyle offers the reader a choice. To either live like a turtle or like a hummingbird, because it is essentially the reader’s choice for which path he shall take for the rest of his life. All Doyle can do is give it his best shot to shove his wisdom into the minds of his readers, to persuade them into choosing what he believes to be the right choice. Through his consistent descriptions about the lifestyle of a hummingbird and the hardships faced from it, he does just that. Brian Doyle has influenced his readers lives by warning them of the dangers they might face from living life too fast. 
