Sarah Dessen says “There is never a time or place for true love. It happens accidentally, in a heartbeat, in a single flashing, throbbing moment.” Humans have a strange way of loving, they fall in it quickly, and they can fling it away swiftly. One can spend their life rebuilding the walls of the heart but they can always be torn down by memories of love they once had, or hearts can be unlocked because someone new walks into their life. Humans may have not gotten a grasp on what love is, but all of them do it in their own way. Even though humans all do it different love is love in the end no matter how one expresses it. In Brian Doyle’s short essay “Joyas Volardores” Doyle conveys the ideas of how humans all love differently through metaphors of unalike animals. His use of comparison between different species conveys his message of how all humans express love in various ways. 

Doyle uses hummingbirds for his first metaphor. Hummingbirds represent a category of people who love frequently and constantly. Hummingbirds always need to be flying or eating or they will essentially die. It is hard for a hummingbird to rest considering its active lifestyle. As for the grouping of humans representing hummingbirds, they as well cannot function in day-to-day life without a constant flow of love. “Each one visits a thousand flowers a day” (Doyle 95). In this quote, Doyle is saying hummingbirds visit many flowers in a day. This quote also transcends to people as well. As hummingbirds visit many flowers throughout their lives, many people love frequently as well trying to find a new sweetness. More than likely not in a day like an actual hummingbird, but both are searching for that one thing that keeps them going. Whether is be a flower or love, it becomes a necessity in their life, and they cannot go on without it. What Doyle conveys here is that some people will love a lot of people over a short period of time. They are too sporadic with love and can’t settle down so they have to find love from multiple places just like a bird finds nectar from multiple flowers. Doyle further conveys his ideas of what happens to hummingbirds if they do not find their nectar. “If they are not soon warmed, if they do not soon find that which is sweet, their hearts grow cold, and they cease to be” (Doyle 95). To go beyond the literal meaning, Doyle’s quote can further be brought back to humanistic behavior. When humans do not find that which is sweet, in this case its love, they will grow emotionally cold and cease to be the person they are. This meaning they can become emotionally distressed and have a personality change. Furthermore, Doyle delivers the idea that some people literally cannot function without someone by their side, they constantly need to feel loved or they will “cease to be”. “They suffer more heart attacks and aneurysms and ruptures then any other living creature” (Doyle 95). Humans that fall in love to quickly end up getting hurt the most. Since they love the most, they feel the most pain when love does not work out. Through the use of hummingbirds as a metaphor, Doyle successfully represents the love life of people who are frequent lovers. Doyle conveys to readers how this is a dangerous style of love but not a wrong style of love, there is a lot of risk and reward involved in this lifestyle but for some, this is how love works best.

Doyle uses tortoises as an example to contrast the lifestyle of a hummingbird, someone who enjoys life to the fullest, absorbing every moment, so their heart lasts a lot longer then a hummingbird. “Every creature has two billion heartbeats to spend in a lifetime. You can spend them slow 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” (Doyle 95). Not every creature literally has two billion heartbeats. Doyle just simply puts life into perspective for the readers. Tortoise has a much slower heartbeat than a hummingbird so he lives longer if this two billion scale is real. Therefore, the tortoise experiences much more in a lifetime than a hummingbird would. The tortoise represents people who take a step back and observe life a little more than most. People who are patient with love and look for it in other things than just people. Coincidence 

Doyle uses blue whales to convey the idea that having a relationship with another can have a positive impact on people because it allows one to share himself or herself with another individual. Sharing ones feelings and expressing love for someone can be exciting, it creates an aurora between the two creatures that is hard to find. “The animals with the largest heart in the world would generally travel in pairs” (Doyle 95-96). Yes, whales physically have the largest heart in the world, but Doyle says this quote with sarcasm and concurrence to show readers that not only physically they have the biggest hearts, but also emotionally they have the biggest hearts. The animals that travel in pairs have the biggest hearts because they open up to one another and share with each other. The love created between two people is something that is tough to be broken, because the toughest bond to break is not nuclear or hydrogen, but the bond of love. Also with love comes the risk of bearing hatred and sorrow because for every action, there is an opposite and equal reaction. “And their penetrating moaning cries, their piercing tongue, can be heard underwater for miles and miles” (Doyle 96). The whale metaphor shows that humans, who love the same person for a long time, are devastated when the break up happens. Couples morn when a break up happens because they have shared their lives with one another, they opened up to one another and to lose that can be overwhelming.

In conclusion, “No living being is without interior liquid motion. We all churn inside” (Doyle 96). The quote conveys the overall message of this essay of all humans love differently. All humans have “liquid” which represents love, everyone just churns their water a little differently. The quote also means that no matter what you are, you can love in some form or fashion. The use of animals was very effective because it simplified a complex and abstract idea known as love. Doyle uses familiar animals that people know and conveys his ideas through their lifestyles. Doyle’s message became strongest and most effective in the end of the essay when he relates everything back to humans and how we love. In the end, humans are creatures that love. Whether is be frequently, or slowly, all humans are susceptible to the feeling. No matter how hard someone tries to fight back, love will always knock them down. “You can brick up your heart as stout and tight and hard and cold and impregnable as you possibly can and down it comes in an instant” (Doyle 96).