what type of essay is joyas voladoras

May 13, 2024

published by phi beta kappa

Print or web publication, joyas voladoras.

Revisiting an ode to the heart by one of our best-loved writers

Since this short essay by Brian Doyle was published in the Scholar 15 years ago, it has been read hundreds of thousands of times on our website and often borrowed for classroom use. It is the lead piece in a just-published collection of Brian’s essays called One Long River of Sound: Notes on Wonder. Brian died at the age of 60 in 2017.

Listen to a narrated version of this essay:

Consider the hummingbird for a long moment. A hummingbird’s heart beats ten times a second. A hummingbird’s heart is the size of a pencil eraser. A hummingbird’s heart is a lot of the hummingbird.  Joyas voladoras , flying jewels, the first white explorers in the Americas called them, and the white men had never seen such creatures, for hummingbirds came into the world only in the Americas, nowhere else in the universe, more than three hundred species of them whirring and zooming and nectaring in hummer time zones nine times removed from ours, their hearts hammering faster than we could clearly hear if we pressed our elephantine ears to their infinitesimal chests.

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. But when they rest they come close to death: on frigid nights, or when they are starving, they 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 are not soon warmed, if they do not soon find that which is sweet, their hearts grow cold, and they cease to be. Consider for a moment those hummingbirds who did not open their eyes again today, this very day, in the Americas: bearded helmet-crests and booted racket-tails, violet-tailed sylphs and violet-capped woodnymphs, crimson topazes and purple-crowned fairies, red-tailed comets and amethyst woodstars, rainbow-bearded thornbills and glittering-bellied emeralds, velvet-purple coronets and golden-bellied star-frontlets, fiery-tailed awlbills and Andean hillstars, spatuletails and pufflegs, each the most amazing thing you have never seen, each thunderous wild heart the size of an infant’s fingernail, each mad heart silent, a brilliant music stilled.

Hummingbirds, like all flying birds but more so, have incredible enormous immense ferocious metabolisms. To drive those metabolisms they have race-car hearts that eat oxygen at an eye-popping rate. Their hearts are built of thinner, leaner fibers than ours. Their arteries are stiffer and more taut. They have more mitochondria in their heart muscles—anything to gulp more oxygen. Their hearts are stripped to the skin for the war against gravity and inertia, the mad search for food, the insane idea of flight. The price of their ambition is a life closer to death; they suffer more heart attacks and aneurysms and ruptures than any other living creature. It’s expensive to fly. You burn out. You fry the machine. You melt the engine. Every creature on earth has approximately two billion heartbeats to spend 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.

The biggest heart in the world is inside the blue whale. It weighs more than seven tons. It’s as big as a room. It  is  a room, with four chambers. A child could walk around it, head high, bending only to step through the valves. The valves are as big as the swinging doors in a saloon. This house of a heart drives a creature a hundred feet long. When this creature is born it is twenty feet long and weighs four tons. It is waaaaay bigger than your car. It drinks a hundred gallons of milk from its mama every day and gains two hundred pounds a day, and when it is seven or eight years old it endures an unimaginable puberty and then it essentially disappears from human ken, for next to nothing is known of the the mating habits, travel patterns, diet, social life, language, social structure, diseases, spirituality, wars, stories, despairs and arts of the blue whale. There are perhaps ten thousand blue whales in the world, living in every ocean on earth, and of the largest animal who ever lived we know nearly nothing. 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.

Mammals and birds have hearts with four chambers. Reptiles and turtles have hearts with three chambers. Fish have hearts with two chambers. Insects and mollusks have hearts with one chamber. Worms have hearts with one chamber, although they may have as many as eleven single-chambered hearts. Unicellular bacteria have no hearts at all; but even they have fluid eternally in motion, washing from one side of the cell to the other, swirling and whirling. No living being is without interior liquid motion. We all churn inside.

So much held in a heart in a lifetime. So much held in a heart in a day, an hour, a moment. We are utterly open with no one in the end—not mother and father, not wife or husband, not lover, not child, not friend. We open windows to each but we live alone in the house of the heart. Perhaps we must. Perhaps we could not bear to be so naked, for fear of a constantly harrowed heart. When young we think there will come one person who will savor and sustain us always; when we are older we know this is the dream of a child, that all hearts finally are bruised and scarred, scored and torn, repaired by time and will, patched by force of character, yet fragile and rickety forevermore, no matter how ferocious the defense and how many bricks you bring to the wall. 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, felled by a woman’s second glance, a child’s apple breath, the shatter of glass in the road, the words  I have something to tell you , a cat with a broken spine dragging itself into the forest to die, the brush of your mother’s papery ancient hand in the thicket of your hair, the memory of your father’s voice early in the morning echoing from the kitchen where he is making pancakes for his children.

Brian Doyle , an essayist and novelist, died on May 27, 2017. To read Epiphanies, his longtime blog for the Scholar , please go here.

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Rhetorical Analysis – Joyas Voladores

“Joyas Voladores,” flying jewels, is the essay finely crafted by Brian Doyle who is now an editor of the University of Portland’s Portland Magazine. In this short essay, the author characterizes heart, which is the organ used for blood circulation and maintenance of our life, as our complex emotion that we all have. In doing so, he sincerely and skillfully points out that we all have the common nature of emotion no matter how they are different.

At the beginning of the essay, the author Doyle states the various features to characterize Hummingbird, which helps him to illustrate one specific type of heart, the mad heart. In the first paragraph, he starts to illustrate the hummingbird’s heart by stating “hummingbird’s heart beats ten times a second” and “their hearts hammering faster than we could clearly hear if we pressed our elephantine ears to their infinitesimal chests”. By stating the numerical data and using vivid sensory languages with direct reference to a human body that creates a concrete image of incredibly fast-paced animals, his quotes not only helps to emphasize his main point of hummingbird’s heart but also help readers to get a complete understanding of the nature of hummingbird’s heart. Also, his stylistic and direct way of choosing a word in contrasting the size of heart to its speediness further magnifies his point and emotionally appeals the readers of the beauty of the flourishing life of hummingbirds which is later described as “incredible enormous immense ferocious metabolisms.”

After Doyle describes how fast hummingbird’s heart is, he starts to illustrate the pain of hummingbird’s way of spending life and makes connections to other creatures way of spending their life, too. In the second paragraph, he mentions “but when they rest they come close to death” and through the middle of the essay, he also states “the price of their ambition is a life closer to death; they suffer heart attacks and aneurysms and ruptures more than any other living creatures.” His use of both highly connotative style of word choice and inclusion of extreme diseases to show the negative effect of “mad heart” makes the author to underline his main point that fast way of using heart lead hummingbird to live shorter that creates heartbreaking tone . Furthermore, in the third paragraph, he states “Every creature on earth has approximately two billion heartbeats to spend in a lifetime” and said we can choose to spend the hearts either as tortoise who live longer or as hummingbird who live shorter. Through the generalization of some heartbeats and distinct comparison of speed to tortoise, the author further extends the variety of hearts from hummingbird’s fast heart to tortoise’s slow heart. Also, this particular connection helps readers to consider the hummingbird’s fast heart as one of our way of spending emotion which may last shorter than other ways.

The author slowly stops to illustrate about hummingbird’s heart but introduces one of the other types of heart which is the big heart of blue whale. In paragraph four, the author says “[whale’s heart] weighs more than seven tons” and “a child could walk around in it, head high, bending only to step through the valves.” As the author clarifies a whale with numerical data and imagery through the physical image of a child, he not only shows his point of view to his audience but also expands the overall meaning of the big whale’s heart to the kind and unselfish character.

Through connection to the whale’s big heart, Doyle creatively shows blue whale’s companionship with other whales that have positive effects while the pains still exist in whale’s society . In the middle of paragraph four, Doyle mentions “for next to nothing is known of the mating habits, travel patterns, diet, social life, language, social structure, diseases, spirituality, wars, stories, despairs and arts of the blue whale” and blue whales’ “moaning cries, their piercing yearning tongue.” His use of various adjectives, sensuous language style, and pathos in depicting whale’s pain provokes both emotions of the joy of social life and sorrow. Moreover, against the common preconception of the companionship in which we expect only the positive result for big heart, Doyle’s counterview  allows him to reinforce that the big heart of whale costs certain pain and risk in a more forceful way while also helping convey his broader intention behind his main argument that all type of hearts have common nature of emotion that sometimes brings pain.

Finally, Doyle asserts that humans all have their unique form of heart that has a universal nature through illustrating human’s heart and its vulnerability that leads emotion to break down eventually. In paragraph five, from the beginning of the paragraph, the author enumerates lots of animals and their structure of hearts. Through narrowing down from mammals to unicellular bacteria, he systematically breaks down the various type of hearts into one common heart in which fluid flows. Then, the author states “No living being is without interior liquid motion. We all churn inside”. By using inclusive pronoun to include the readers into his idea of human’s common feature, Doyle not only successfully makes the connection from animals’ hearts to humans’ hearts that allows the readers to have further understanding of connection but also adds to the persuasiveness of the author’s main point that all human have the same feature of emotion which comes from the heart.

Doyle makes the further concentration on nature of human’s emotion and its breakdowns. In paragraph six, he states “We open windows to [the people we love], but we live alone in the house of the heart” and then later “yet fragile and rickety always, no matter how ferocious the defense and how many bricks you bring to the wall.” By figuratively elaborating the human’s emotion in term of the house and using complex sensory languages, he magnifies his crucial point that human’s emotion is vulnerable. Furthermore, Doyle adds “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” because of the powerful emotional experiences such as “the memory of your father’s voice early in the morning echoing from the kitchen where he is making pancakes for his children.” Towards the end, Doyle deliberately uses lots of visual languages to highlight the fact which our heart is vulnerable even though you make the wall harder and regardless of who you are. Also, by enumerating the situations that could break down one’s wall in emotion, the author offers readers to remind the memory of their situation where their emotion breaks down which make the situation clear. Overall, Doyle not only states positive instant such as “women’s second glance,” but he deliberately includes the further situations that cause certain pains on emotion, in which the author explicitly imply our vulnerable nature of emotion also costs pain as a hummingbird and blue whale.

In the final lines of the text, Brian Doyle leaves the audience with the idea that we all brick up the wall which not only avoids the pain but also limits us from the positive aspects of vulnerability. In his article, Doyle uses multiple rhetorical devices and appeals to narrow down the various types of hearts to the universal nature of emotion from hummingbirds and blue whales to humans. By making the connotative and robust connection through explicit and abstract ways of writing, Doyle leads the audience to recall their own experience to make a connection to various types of hearts and to eventually realizes the both positive and negative sides of our heart’s vulnerability.

copyright 2018 Journal of Innovation & Social Change

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Joyas Voladoras Essay Summary By Brian Doyle

Table of Contents

The essay “Joyas Voladoras” by Brian Doyle tackles the concepts of life, love, and the frailty of existence. The phrase “flying jewels” refers to hummingbirds, which are used as a metaphor for life’s transience in the title.

Joyas Voladoras Essay Summary By Brian Doyle- In the essay’s opening paragraph, Doyle describes the physical traits and behaviours of hummingbirds, highlighting their incredibly quick heartbeat and capacity for hovering in midair. 

He then elaborates on this statement to explore the notion that although hummingbirds are among the tiniest animals on Earth, they are incredibly vibrant. As a result, he starts to think about the nature of the heart and how it relates to life.

Joyas Voladoras Essay Summary By Brian Doyle- In his reflections, Doyle compares the amazing velocity at which hummingbirds’ hearts beat—up to 1,260 times per minute in some cases—to the rapidity of their lives. He compares the human heart to the heart of the hummingbird, saying that both are vulnerable and weak but also capable of great love and compassion.

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Joyas Voladoras Essay Summary By Brian Doyle- As Doyle explores the different emotions and experiences that the heart embraces, the essay adopts a reflective tone. Using examples from nature, such as the love that mother whales have for their offspring or the devotedness of penguins to their partners, he talks on the enormous capacity of the heart to love. 

Joyas Voladoras Essay Summary By Brian Doyle- Doyle emphasises the transforming nature of love, emphasising how it has the power to both offer joy and cause grief.

Doyle turns his attention to human hearts and their capacity for both love and grief in the second half of the essay. He muses on the transitory nature of life as well as the unavoidable frailty and death of the human condition. Doyle contends that, despite its fragility, life is valuable and beautiful because of how transient it is.

Joyas Voladoras Essay Summary By Brian Doyle- A profound reflection on the interdependence of all living things is included in the essay’s conclusion. Every heart, whether human or animal, according to Doyle, is a “hummingbird heart” that is weak, strong, and capable of love. He emphasises the value of cherishing life and appreciating existence’s beauty despite its fleeting nature.

The essay “Joyas Voladoras” examines the fragility and beauty of existence in a lyrical and introspective manner. Brian Doyle reminds readers of the value of every heartbeat and the importance of embracing love and compassion in the face of life’s impermanence through colourful descriptions and thought-provoking comments.

About Brian Doyle

Brian Doyle (1956-2017) was an American author, essayist, and poet. He was born in New York and raised in a large Irish-Catholic family. Doyle’s writing style was characterized by its lyrical and heartfelt nature, often blending personal experiences with reflections on spirituality, nature, and the human condition.

Joyas Voladoras Essay Summary By Brian Doyle- Doyle published numerous books, including fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. Some of his notable works include “Mink River,” “Martin Marten,” “The Plover,” and “Leaping: Revelations and Epiphanies.” His writing received critical acclaim and won several awards, including the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature.

Joyas Voladoras Essay Summary By Brian Doyle- As an essayist, Doyle was known for his ability to find beauty and meaning in the ordinary aspects of life. His essays often explored themes such as love, family, faith, and the natural world. They were characterized by their rich imagery, emotional depth, and a sense of wonder.

Joyas Voladoras Essay Summary By Brian Doyle- Tragically, Brian Doyle passed away in 2017 at the age of 60 due to complications from a brain tumor. Despite his untimely death, his writing continues to inspire readers with its profound insights and celebration of life’s joys and sorrows.

Brian Doyle’s literary legacy lives on through his works, which continue to resonate with readers seeking contemplation, connection, and a renewed appreciation for the world around them.

“Joyas Voladoras” by Brian Doyle is a poignant and evocative essay that delves into the themes of life, love, and the fleeting nature of existence. Through his exploration of hummingbirds and their remarkable hearts, Doyle invites readers to contemplate the fragility and beauty of all living beings, emphasizing the interconnectedness of the human experience with the natural world.

Joyas Voladoras Essay Summary By Brian Doyle- Doyle’s lyrical prose and vivid descriptions paint a picture of the immense vitality and vulnerability present in every heartbeat. 

Joyas Voladoras Essay Summary By Brian Doyle- He reminds us that despite the brevity of life, it is precisely this brevity that gives it meaning and significance. Love and compassion emerge as central themes, with Doyle highlighting the transformative power of these emotions and their ability to bring both joy and sorrow.

Ultimately, “Joyas Voladoras” serves as a reminder to cherish and appreciate the preciousness of life, embracing its transient nature. 

Joyas Voladoras Essay Summary By Brian Doyle- It encourages us to cultivate love, compassion, and an awareness of our interconnectedness with all living beings. Through his eloquent writing, Doyle invites readers to reflect on their own lives, encouraging them to live fully and appreciate the beauty that exists in every fleeting moment.

Q. What is the meaning of “Joyas Voladoras”? 

Ans. “Joyas Voladoras” translates to “flying jewels” in Spanish. In the context of Brian Doyle’s essay, it refers to hummingbirds, which serve as a metaphor for the fleeting nature of life and the delicate beauty found within it.

Q. What are the main themes of “Joyas Voladoras”? 

Ans. The main themes explored in the essay include the fragility and brevity of life, the power of love and compassion, the interconnectedness of all living beings, and the significance of embracing and appreciating the transient nature of existence.

Q. What is the significance of hummingbirds in the essay? 

Ans. Hummingbirds symbolize the fragile yet vibrant nature of life. Their fast heartbeat and ability to hover in mid-air reflect the fleetingness of existence. They serve as a metaphorical representation of the delicate beauty and vitality that can be found in the world.

Q. How does Brian Doyle connect the hummingbird’s heart to the human heart? 

Ans. Brian Doyle draws parallels between the hummingbird’s heart and the human heart to highlight their shared vulnerability and capacity for love. He reflects on the rapid heartbeat of hummingbirds and suggests that, like their hearts, human hearts are fragile and capable of immense compassion and affection.

Q. What is the overall message of “Joyas Voladoras”? 

Ans. The essay encourages readers to cherish and embrace the preciousness of life, despite its transient nature. It emphasizes the importance of love, compassion, and appreciating the interconnectedness of all living beings. Doyle reminds us to live fully and appreciate the beauty found in every fleeting moment.

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“Joyas Voladoras” by Brian Doyle. Summary and Symbolism Analysis Essay

1. introduction.

"Joyas Voladoras" by Brian Doyle is a comprehensive analysis of the short essay "Joyas Voladoras". The article begins with an introduction that provides an overview of the essay and highlights the importance of symbolism analysis in understanding the deeper meaning of the text. In "Joyas Voladoras", Doyle explores the life of two creatures, a hummingbird and a blue whale, to illustrate the existential perspective on life and death. The fact that hummingbirds have the largest heart and the smallest heart in the world is used in a symbolic meaning. The importance of the symbol "heart" is to deliver the theme of the story which is about love. By comparing the motion of hummingbird into different reactions from small happiness to terrors, he then uses an example of one of his friends to show the difficulties for people to enjoy the love without worrying the end. This reveals to the reader that no matter how passionate love is going to be, everybody in love is still suffering. As a comparison, a whale's heart is as large as room and people could only walk around upright. Focusing on human in general, planet earth is the only place for them to enjoy life and there is no time to worry other than seeking the happiness. However, humans seem to be trapped because people get used to the unchangeable flow. In the conclusion of the story, the author demonstrates that human existence is insignificance compared to the nature. The conclusion is started with an extra detail of the temple of Aztecs in Mexico when the priest had to use the hummingbird's love to religion" and this means that a love in people's perspective is a kind of trapped. Immortality is another topic that also been brought out by Brian Doyle. Creatures other than humans live their life purely and the concept of time does not exist. People always question about mortality because they always assume that there is no more time left. By giving a very convincing topic sentence, which is about the life of hummingbird and the idea of time is discussed, it helps readers to recognize the topic and gain interests to learn more.

1.1. Overview of "Joyas Voladoras"

The essay's title, "Joyas Voladoras", is translated to "flying jewels", which serves as a symbol for the hummingbird. However, the essay itself begins with an anecdote about a baby blue whale being born, while later on the reader learns about the spider, hearts, and the "joyas voladoras" that are hummingbirds. This non-linear essay is constructed with four specific paragraphs, two functioning as the introduction and the last two are research about what the hummingbird's heartbeat means. The essay begins with the reader completely unaware of the "joyas voladoras" that they are going to learn about. The first line itself and the transition from the baby whale to the hummingbird serves the purpose of surprise. The hummingbird is a symbol for the joy in life since "they can hover in mid-air, they can fly backwards, they can fly more things are their body when they are flying than any other birds" and that its heart breaks a hundred and twenty-five times a minute. However, when Doyle researches and delves into the sound of the hummingbird's heartbeat, it's clear that the hummingbird's heart is not a symbol for joy, but a symbol for a life of vulnerability and a heart that has so much stress and hardship. This transition from no clue to research and the hummingbird as a symbol is quite impressively surprising and makes this section where Doyle researches notable. This section when Doyle tries to understand what the rapid sound of the life in a hummingbird means and finally feels the pain inside his chest and finds out it's poignant. All the way at the end of the essay, Doyle writes that "they are mostly flying without appearing to move at all, of opinions impartial to space." This sentence serves as an end and in other words, the hummingbird's life that seems almost meaningful, precious, and joyful though it's short.

1.2. Importance of Symbolism Analysis

Another reason why it is important to engage in a symbolism analysis of "Joyas Voladoras" is that it helps us to understand the different levels of meanings in the essay. Many times, it is easy for us to just interpret what we see on the surface. In this essay, we can hear someone flies over and over again from the beginning to the end and at the end the speaker reminds readers that the first word he heard from his son was "heartbeat" which symbolizes the life. Such kind of speech and plot may be about the poems from his son and Frances with no special meanings. However, with the help of the symbolism analysis, we are now able to know that the true meaning of flying which is named "Joyas Voladoras" and repeated thousands of times in "Joyas Voladoras" is not about to actually fly in the sky. Instead, hummingbird is used to show the inner world. The small, beautiful, and vulnerable bird flies over thousands time a day is just as the busiest creature in the world and the only work it does everyday is "heartwork", which is to keep the heart beating long life for that tiny body. By comparison with the blue whale, hummingbird no doubt live shorter time. And due to its size, it can not fly too fast in case it got hurt. Next, symbolism is also good for art comprehension. Just like what we discussed before, because of the physical weakness and vulnerability, the hummingbird is verified to have a rapid and passionate way of living. When we read literatures, common readers are not always able to find out what the author really want to express because our preferences and understandings may decease the true meanings. Just like we never realize that hummingbirds love flowers until we are told to. But fortunately, the symbolism analysis in "Joyas Voladoras" leads us to know blessing and wonder, just as inspired Bishop to name the essay. If we change that to animal, that is just human, animals and everything that is going to die in this world, says the great poet for animals." By analyzing the various symbols in the essay, students should be able to build up an emotional and intellectual relationship with the piece of work and came up with a broader vision on the world.

2. Summary of "Joyas Voladoras"

The essay "Joyas Voladoras" considers an analysis of the lives of both hummingbirds and blue whales. As it is found by the author, the heart of a hummingbird is a fraction of a minuscule, but on the other side, the heart of a blue whale is exactly the size of a room. The whale's heart works anywhere in the sea, complete with its capability, but on the other side, the heart of a hummingbird has to order to finish its sleep. That's why in this essay, it is explained that a hummingbird is playing the role of a busy person whose life is full of struggles and problems. And also, a person has to work hard for the completion of his or her dreams happily and successfully. It means without any hesitation, happiness comes whenever the dreams come true. It also discusses that due to the small size of the heart, busy people and their bodies are in continuous struggle for survival. The author tells that the life of busy people is just like a mechanical one. Because of the continuous struggles of life, their lives become such a heart that after some time, they cannot bear a single additional burden and fail to achieve their dreams. On the other side, the life silently passing under the deep sea is explained by the author in such a way that while we are in the pace of a busy world, our life is usual and the fixed salt, like the life of a blue whale under the deep sea. The blue whale plays the role of those people who live a silent life. The person does not have to face any burden of the world with his heart. He lives freely and calmly with his wishes. He has to complete his sleep around 20 to 30 minutes and have perfection in all the work because of the rest. Most of the time, they sleep, but in routine, what it results. We can see that the blue whale is achieving people's dreams happily. So it is very important for busy people to get relaxed and chilled because the taken of breath will make them feel better and concentrate on their work with delight.

2.1. Key Themes Explored

Moving on to the analysis of the text, one of the most important themes of 'Joyas Voladoras' is love and loneliness. The narrator describes the hummingbird as a 'tiny work of art, a breathing glimmer' that is in constant motion and never rests. He uses the hummingbird as a metaphor for the human heart, highlighting the idea that even the most beautiful hearts, like the most beautiful people, can sometimes feel lonely. Doyle writes that 'the biggest heart in the world is inside the blue whale. It weighs more than seven tons. It's as big as a room. It is a room, with four chambers, so tall you could walk through the corridors of the aorta, which the heaviest animal on earth passes blood through as it swims'. The description of the blue whale's heart, as well as its physical size and capacity, is used by Doyle to construct a sense of awe and respect for the creature. The image of the heart as a 'room, with four chambers, so tall you could walk through the corridors of the aorta' not only serves to make the reader see how impressive the heart is, but also can be connected to some kind of divine or spiritual imagery, with the whale's heart being described as a Holy Cathedral. By extension, we as readers can make the conflation between the spiritual whales and the metaphorical ones - we see that, just as the incomprehensible physical heart of the whale continues to pump and nurture it, so does the spiritual heart of the people help them to survive and love. The profound admiration for the whale's heart seems to draw the essay to an end that is almost elegiac, marking an end of the narrator's musings.

2.2. Main Characters and their Significance

In the essay, the three main characters, the blue whale, the hummingbird, and the heart, are introduced in sequence. The lecturer provides relevant background knowledge and the physical traits of these animals. For example, the blue whale's somatic cells are bigger than a hummingbird's nucleus, yet the blue whale's heart is only the size of a small car. In comparison, the hummingbird's heart is minuscule. "Most people don't know that a blue whale has veins large enough for a human to swim in," the author wrote. Then he remarks that "a blue whale's heart is about the size of a car, and it's so big you can hear it four rooms away." The physical comparison magnifies the size and grandeur of the blue whale's heart and emphasizes the surprising fact that a heart of such scale is unable to provide stability for the whale in his life. The lecturer explains that the blue whale's slow metabolism and dormant attitude towards activities "suggest longevity and stability" and the futile pursuit of carrying "God's own buttermess". He uses the key magnet word "longevity" to show that the metaphorical implications of the blue whale's heart in the essay are about sustention and robustness. On the other hand, for the hummingbird, the lecturer talks about its behaviors and its lifestyle in comparison with other birds. For example, he mentions that "birds with more booming hearts, better survival rates, and easier ways of life exist...as many as 250 of those smallest beating hearts in a minute before sunrise" and the "heart rates decline sharply as the day goes on, a mix of torberness through much of the day and then a scramble to fit eating into a tiny time." Through the hummingbird's swift heartbeats, the author conveys the message that life of the hummingbird is fast-paced, precarious, and unsteady. He uses the hummingbird's rapid heart rate as "an example of how a life should be lived- heart as a brave, a sword, a humble atonement". This again supports the essay's argument about the significance of a heart; a heart stands for preservation and resilience. While the hummingbird represents freedom and fragility, the heart shape in the scientific world where the essay mentioned as "the heart fell inches down where the heart was talented to fall" is the guiding direction for a genetic experience. This reflects that the butterfly is believed to categorize and dictate the DNA's proving, emphasizing the role of a butterfly as a symbol of change and transformation. In conclusion, the essay's thorough analogy on the heart in the animal kingdom provides not only an insight into the vitality and struggle encapsulated in the different ways of life the heart governs but also a panoramic view of the immense yet "abject" love thus evoked in comparison with the minuscule and elfin love- symbols illustrated by the gigantic, majestic blue whale and the agile, courageous hummingbird and the delicate yet profound butterfly.

2.3. Plot Synopsis

Doyle's essay is vivid and colorful, just like the hummingbirds he describes. It is a fragmented essay because it is written in short sections. The essay jumps from a story about Doyle's sick dog to stories of various animals' hearts to a story of imprisoned parrots and back again. Each little story in the larger essay is a unique and individual fragment, and then Doyle seamlessly connects them at the end. The essay is about the hearts of animals and people and shows how they are similar and different. Doyle's life serves as a microcosm for the larger study of hearts. We get a window into his personal experiences and how they have influenced him and his writing, and the stories of the animals' hearts provide the larger, macrocosmic look at the hearts. Everything is interconnected and, much like a hummingbird's heart, the essay comes to life with its multitude of stories and facts. As each distinct piece fits together, not unlike the inner workings of the heart, the essay builds and becomes more powerful until the reader realizes the gravity of the message and all its implications. The reader may end up reading about Doyle's dog with certain expectations of a story about a pet, or about the hummingbird with certain expectations of an ornithological fact, and instead find a powerful and moving message about life and the hearts that direct its course. The heart the essay focuses on, that of the hummingbird, serves as yet another point in the intricate web of lives and loves created by Doyle's disciplined and populous prose, a prose that he continues to shape with every heartbeat. "Joyas Voladoras" is an essay that focuses on the heart, the engine for human life; a heart, an engine for animal life; and how Doyle has been affected emotionally as well as symbolically by the hearts. Through anecdotes about animals and humans alike, and the weaving of all these stories into a cohesive and powerful whole, Doyle's essay is a broad look at the heart, a detailed and almost painstaking study of the hummingbird's heart, and a personal close affect, using the heart as a guide to exploring what it truly means to be alive.

3. Symbolism Analysis of "Joyas Voladoras"

The hummingbird heart is the size of a pencil eraser. A lot of people didn't know that. Some hearts are as big as apples. "Joyas Voladoras," flying jewels, the first white explorers in the Americas called them. "Guided by the selection, the structure of the article illustrates "a warm muscle almost perfectly designed for the work that it does." This statement about the structure of a hummingbird's heart directly parallels the overarching focus of the second paragraph - to define the ways in which hearts of all different sizes are perfectly structured to meet the needs of the body. In short, the first paragraph serves to fully develop and explain the subsequent discussion. "The structure and purpose of this paragraph immediately indicates how Doyle's use of scientific facts about physical hearts directly supports his discussion of matters of the human heart: by beginning with a discussion of the hummingbird's heart, the first several sentences lay out an explanation of how "joyas voladoras" most efficiently and effectively accomplish their life-sustaining work, and the critical role of the heart in maintaining life in creatures of any size. Just like the hummingbird, its heart emotive symbol in Jeffers's work is just as small but just as perfectly suited for that which it must. This is critical because up to this point, Doyle's essay has not yet addressed the central metaphor behind the use of the term "joyas voladoras." This introduction to the idea of hearts, metaphorical or otherwise, is an effective transition to the central topic of the essay. "The very purpose of its being a heart," the paragraph concludes, uses the physical anatomy example of actual hearts to transition to a discussion of how hearts and the metaphorical idea of a soul are inextricably linked. These sentences reveal that the remainder of the paragraph will be dedicated to a delineation of the ways in which people connect the idea of heart to soul and the manifestation of soul in love and other similarly deep emotions. By this point, readers will fully understand the rhetorical devices of scientific explanations on a larger scale leading to introspective discussion. Thanks to an understanding of how size and function in terms of hummingbird and human hearts, readers can now understand the logical progression present in this specific paragraph and, by extension, the essay as a whole. However small and squalid the joke may be, the very fact that they share a joke demonstrates carelessness is a life-killing thing." This paragraph represents one of the strongest examples of the use of pathos present in Doyle's essay, as the discussion of a "life-killing thing" clearly strikes at the fear and turmoil that often come with the idea of feeling empty due to lack of love or emotion.

3.1. The Heart as a Symbol

The heart is an astoundingly intense image in "Joyas Volardoras". It regularly shows up against the scenery of the hummingbird, and seemingly one of its most significant portrayals is that of the blue whale's heart. To start with, Doyle outlines the way that the human heart, the size and shade of a shrimp, beats roughly 4,000,000,000 times in a normal lifetime. Our lives are estimated with these delicately ticking siphons, and Doyle proposes that "we are generally urgent; we are all strange; we are largely astonishing animals of want and sympathy" (Doyle 6). A reasonable intimation that the heart is to remain as the focal image of not just the lives of the resonances that it contacts. Doyle at that point proceeds to depict the hearts of even more modest birds and creatures, uncovering that hummingbirds have a surprisingly quick heart thumps per second and that blue whales have hearts so huge that a human could swim through their courses. The Creator tends to the wary that such visual and physical proof of the creatures' hearts is significant, as it feature the possibility of the heart as an incredible agent of "need" and "the craving to watch" about others (alluded to in the statement prior), on the grounds that as he would see it "we disregard these real factors and imagine the heart is initially a lance or place or a craved of its own" (Doyle 6). By adroitly and carefully intertwining the three portrayals of various creature's hearts and the method of reasoning that actuates the propensity to "disregard" it, Doyle exposes the power found in such insidiousness, and in a more extensive perspective, illustrate how life and hearts look to exhibit a solidarity through assortment. In this way, Doyle's purposeful clash between the naturalist ethos of delicate and elusive limitlessness and his own benefit of feelings adds to his lit up position of the heart as an image that doesn't just address the actual development of creatures, yet the grace and want and the distress, and the greatness, and the secret of the lives all throughout the planet.

3.2. Birds as Symbols of Freedom and Fragility

Lastly, birds are also used as symbols of freedom and isolation. In the essay, Doyle explains how birds in the wild are forever hunted and haunted. Doyle comments that the kingfisher flies at 40 miles an hour down a channel of water "but at the last moment opens its wings and glides inches above the surface of the water as it catches a fish." "I presume the mind of the kingfisher," writes Doyle, "but cannot presume to know the mind of the osprey." Doyle here uses the figure of the bird to show how humans cherish and maintain their independence as creatures of habit and instinct, even when facing moments that feel like the thunderbolt of encounter. By writing that he presumes the mind of the kingfisher, Doyle suggests that humans do not need to search self-understanding because they already contain the absolute knowledge of these habits and instincts that birds rely upon - precisely the type of knowledge that joyas voladoras are denied. However, it is equally possible to note the precariousness of freedom embodied by the osprey that seeks different prey, the challenge and change of habit that constitutes real freedom and awareness of the world. From the energy beheld in the heart, the smallest bird in the world, to the knowledge associated with the mechanics of living, to the freedom embodied by the osprey, birds in the essay serve as both the symbols of life's fragility and the desired outcomes of that fragility - that is, knowledge and awareness of one's world. The use of birds as symbolic of the characters within the essay serves to further humanize and elevate those characters' struggle for knowledge. Throughout the essay, Doyle is able to meld human feelings and biological durabilities, showing, in each instance of symbol, how the heart retains a distinct symbolic power. Yet it is important to keep in mind that Doyle's argument is not limited to the heart and its symbol - it is through the comparison and analysis of joyas voladoras itself against other apparati in the life of animals that Doyle is able, ultimately, to craft a deep appreciation for the struggles of true knowledge.

3.3. The Butterfly as a Symbol of Transformation

The butterfly, as stated by Doyle, "the great change is when you take the experience full on and not rationalize or refuse it or always be moving" (Doyle 2), represents transformation. The speaker watches a monarch butterfly, which has an average lifespan of 44 days, "pump its damp wings open and closed" (Doyle 2), and then says "it's like the downstroke of a giant heart, with all the parts of the butterfly touching in the middle" (Doyle 2). The speaker helps the reader to understand that the transformation represented by the butterfly is a physical and visceral experience, avoiding the use of metaphors that serve to distance and intellectualize the experience. The speaker does this by providing concrete sensory details, like the observation about the downstroke of a giant heart; then "all the parts of the butterfly touching in the middle" (Doyle 2). This sentence beautifully illustrates the visceral, physical nature of the heart and the butterfly's connection to it. The speaker ultimately comes to a conclusion about the nature of experience and transformation: "This is not a slide, it's a dance. It takes real guts... to see such a lifetime handed to you, and watch it go up in smoke" (Doyle 2). The butterfly is not only a symbol of transformation for Doyle, but also a symbol that embodies a great deal of energy and activity: the "real guts" and courage and a recognition of the extraordinary beauty and potential for life that is realized when experiences are embraced fully. The butterfly lives a lifetime in 20 days, but for Doyle, it is what occurs in those 20 days - what is at the heart of transformation and experience - that is most important. The butterfly's fluttering motions that allow it to traverse great distances in its lifetime serve as the driving force behind Doyle's argument for the necessity of embracing experience as a journey with purpose, a journey that is lived.

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Heart Power in “Joyas Voladoras” by Brian Doyle Essay

Brian Doyle’s short essay, Joyas Voladoras, focuses on the various aspects of the heart in both animals and humans. In his work, Doyle concentrates on illustrating the significance of the role of the heart in living beings. He offers clear illustrations by using metaphors and shifting from the physical aspect of the heart to its deeper psychological significance. The author provides various distinctive approaches when bringing out the idea of the heart ranging from a solemn tone to a more ordinary one.

The essay opens with facts about hummingbirds, which is a nice way to attract the readers’ attention, as one becomes interested to know much about this extraordinary bird. The author uses metaphors cleverly to figure out specific details that increase credibility. This credibility spreads throughout the entire essay since known facts back every assumption. Moreover, Doyle targets hyperboles so that to emphasize the originality of the bird: “Joyas Voladoras, flying jewels, the first white explorers in the Americas called them, and the white man had never seen such creatures…” (qtd. in Barthlomae, Petrosky, and Waite 147). Concerning the stylistic techniques, which are employed by the author at work, he makes extensive use of connectives. Specifically, he directs his attention to the usage of transformational or identical repetitions. For instance, the tendency may be traced in the following sentences: “A hummingbird’s heart beats ten times a second. A hummingbird’s heart is the size of a pencil eraser. A hummingbird’s heart is a lot of the hummingbird” (qtd. in Barthlomae, Petrosky, and Waite 147). The method assists the author in putting a high logical emphasis on the subject of the passage.

In the second paragraph, Doyle explains the mighty talents of the hummingbird, such as having the ability to dive at a speed of six miles per hour or fly long distances without stopping to rest. The author switches quickly to explain the dangers underlying this practice. He tries to communicate to the audience that life can as well be that fragile. He uses the metaphor of the hummingbird to pass the message that people may think to be at the top of a situation, but any time could be a downfall the same way a hummingbird. The bird is compared by the author to many things, which bear some resemblance to a hummingbird. In this way, an extended sentence of vivid comparisons evolves: “Consider for a moment those hummingbirds who did not open their eye again today, this very day, in the Americas: bearded helmet crests and booted racket-tails, violet-tailed sylphs…” (qtd. in Barthlomae, Petrosky, and Waite 147). The technique adds some stylistic empathy to the passage and points out that hummingbird belongs to the rear and fabulous birds, which are vulnerable to multiple threats. The use of simple language and known facts keeps the reader eager to read further through the passages.

The third paragraph provides a mix of ideas, which are explained so that to represent two different lifestyles. Doyle uses the metabolism of the hummingbird as a metaphor to show that the price of their determination is life near to death. Due to their ambition to fly high and fast, hummingbirds suffer from heart attacks, and they burn out more as compared to other creatures. He indicates that hummingbirds live a short life partly due to their ambitious lifestyle. At this point, Doyle suggests that people can as well live their lives the same way as hummingbirds. He compares this kind of life to that of a tortoise. In other words, he specifies that a human being is too lazy so that to realize the potential that is assigned to them by nature. One can choose the hummingbird’s lifestyle and live for a short time. The other option is the tortoise lifestyle, which has nearly two hundred years of existence. Doyle views these two distinct choices as the way people see their lives. Some people are very careful and conservative in their life, and thus they live long.

The other group rarely stops for a break, and thus they keep moving ahead despite the struggles. One of the strengths of this author is that he does not select one option as the best. On the contrary, he merely analyzes the two distinct lifestyles and leaves it for the reader to choose. Indeed, the issue of correctness is quite doubtful in this case since some individuals argue that it is extremely exciting and right to live a short but adventurous life, for, in the end, one never recollects the specific time frames. Instead, one remembers the moments. The other people, however, claim that a person was given life so that to appreciate and value it. Therefore, it is crucial to be careful about one’s deeds and to avoid risks so that to remain safe and sound. The connectivity of the sentences in the third passage is vividly demonstrated through the extensive use of repetitive pronouns. For instance, a chain of statements starts with the personal pronoun you: “You burn out. You fry the machine” (qtd. in Barthlomae, Petrosky, and Waite 148). In this way, Doyle does not only make the speech flowing and connected, but he emphasizes that a bird’s lifestyle may be identified with one of a living being.

Doyle remains decisive in the fourth paragraph in the way he compares the whale’s heart by using a metaphor of a room. He expounds this comparison by introducing a metaphor in which the heart is viewed as big room enough for a child to walk through. He makes a simple comparison between the heart of a hummingbird and that of a blue whale for the reader to visualize how each heart sustains different creatures despite the size disparities. Doyle uses the metaphor of the whale’s big heart to symbolize shelter, care, and love. The vividness of the example is demonstrated through the usage of graphical violations. Mainly, the author emphasizes an enormous size of the heart in the following way: “It is waaaaaaay bigger than your car” (qtd. in Barthlomae, Petrosky, and Waite 148). Through this simple comparison, the reader might also perceive that the author scrutinizes the difference between the mercantile values of a human and the kindness of an animal, which reveals an immense affection and love towards its mates. He shows that blue whales travel in pairs because they care about each other. The author often switches from facts to speculations to enable the reader to create a secure link to the text. This persistent shift brings out the paradox of the heart, which appears strong even though it is a delicate house of one’s emotions. If people could learn to love each other and go through life slower, then they could enjoy long life span.

Doyle uses the fifth passage to crown his message of life and love through the metaphor of the heart. Specifically, he compares different types of creatures with their distinct hearts. For instance, the author examines the fragility of the heart by depicting it as the human beings’ little shelter that they fight to sustain, but later the sustention comes to halt depending on the choice of lifestyle. The central point of the work emphasizes that the heart has so much to treasure, be it in a lifetime, in a day, or a moment. In other words, the author simply wants to show the reader the importance of life and letting people inside their heart. Consequently, Doyle passes the message that people should not be afraid or selective in letting others inside their hearts. Moreover, in this paragraph, Doyle dwells on the fact that the quality of life, as well as its mere existence, does not depend on the size of the heart. No matter whether a heart has four huge room-like chambers or no chambers at all, it still signifies living: “No living being is without interior liquid motion. We all churn inside” (qtd. in Barthlomae, Petrosky, and Waite 149). It must be noted, though, that this passage does not contain any metacommentary, which damages the quality of message perceiving. The author provides single descriptions of animals’ and human hearts. Afterward, he moves to the conclusion, according to which life may exist in various forms. However, he does not connect the descriptions to the conclusion, which damages the general flow of verbal means.

The final paragraph of the story provides some grieving shade to the writing. Thus, in this passage the author disillusions the naivety of eternal life. According to him, every story has its logical end. Moreover, this end often comes in an unexpected form or inappropriate time. Some human beings do not succeed to realize their dreams and aspirations in a lifetime. That is why, they are passing away with some sad reminiscences that remind them of their beloved people or those, who left them. In fact, the author disclaims the existence of eternal love as well since he claims that close people never stay with us forever. Throughout our lives, we encounter multiple individuals, who are our sisters, brothers, husbands, and wives. Though we believe that these people serve as our constant support, they tend to disappear from our lives at definite moments. Consequently, Doyle argues that we remain with our hearts in solitude at the end of our lives.

In conclusion, Doyle succeeds in the way he uses metaphors through hearts to demonstrate the theme of life and love. This passage is short, but it is rich with real life lessons. For instance, the use of the hummingbird to explain a precious but fast-paced life is well articulated. Even though he does not rule out this kind of life, he sees it as more dangerous as compared to the life of a tortoise that goes through a gradual but long life. Doyle shows how human beings go through their lives. Through the metaphor of the whale’s heart and the fact that whales move in pairs, Doyle passes the message of love. Ultimately, in writing about hearts, Doyle does not intend to supply his readers with facts about the heart but demonstrate its psychological power and the importance of cherishing every moment in life.

Works Cited

Barthlomae, David, Anthony Petrosky, and Stacey Waite. Ways of Reading: An Anthology for Writers. 10 th ed. 2014. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s. Print.

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Analysis of “Joyas Voladoras” by Brian Doyle

These days, people predominantly lead a speedy lifestyle, they always hurry for coming in time to work or university, run for important meetings, and do their best to fulfill deadlines. The modern pace of life can be compared with a continuous rush without the finish point. Time management is the term, which is constantly heard everywhere – in blogs, articles, and self-developing books. People are less careful of others, their feelings, and ask for help, as they have no opportunities to be late for their meaningful errands. Passengers in the street do not notice the beauty of the architecture and some changes in the local areas and do not pay attention to nature, as they are deeply in thoughts about their plans and the methods of managing the time. In the article, «Joyas Voladoras» Brian Doyle addresses this hot-button issue and presents his reflections on the pace of life and love. This way, the purpose of the paper is to analyze the article «Joyas Voladoras», determine its message, lessons, and the extent, to which they get across.

Despite having a small size, the essay contains profound meaning, which can hardly be understood after reading for the first time. It is worth starting with an explanation of the title of the article. “Joyas Voladoras” is a metaphor, this phrase means “flying jewel”, namely hummingbird (Doyle). This name was created by the first white explorers in America, and Brian Doyle highlights that the New World appears to be the only habitat of hummingbirds. In the article, the writer attempts to transmit his ideas by drawing an analogy with animals, their physical characteristics, and their behavior. “The main characters” of this story are a skillful hummingbird with brief life, a slow tortoise, which lives up to 200 years, and a giant blue whale with the biggest heart in the world. Comparing these animals and their lifestyles, Brian Doyle supplies his considerations on life, its pace, and love.

The author starts his narrative by describing this creature and making the readers admire it. Although it is tiny, and its heart is compared with a “pencil eraser”, the abilities of the little creature are surprising. Hummingbirds can visit more than a thousand flowers a day, dive at sixty miles per hour, fly backwards, and travel for a long time without rest. This list is impressive; however, the bird is very close to death while resting. During cold nights they are highly likely to starve, during periods of hunger, they may die unless they find something sweet. Moreover, such high activity takes a significant amount of energy. The author marks: “the price of their ambition is a life closer to death; they suffer more heart attacks and aneurysms and ruptures than any other living creature” (Doyle). This way, the life endurance of hummingbirds is only two years. Brian Doyle outlines that every organism on the earth has a limit for heartbeats, which consists of two billion times, and the little bird spends her limit exceptionally rapidly due to its multiple abilities.

By contrast with hummingbirds, tortoises are slow, and their activity is not varied. Therefore, they spend their two billion heartbeats significantly longer than the aforementioned creature, and their life span may reach two hundred years old. The writer notices: “It’s expensive to fly. You burn out. You fry the machine. You melt the engine” (Doyle). Comparing a small but rapid and skillful bird with a slow tortoise, the author draws attention to the two options of the pace of life. The first is full of action, travels, and adventures, but very short. It reminds me of the modern lifestyle, which people stick to predominantly. The second approach is off-speed, peaceful, calm, and much longer than the previous one. Brian Doyle does not insist on a particular solution or approach, he encourages readers to reflect on this topic, match their dreams and current activity, and make their own conscious decision.

Another message of the essay regards love, and the author draws an analogy with the natural world, too, to introduce this topic. The writer presents information on the structure of the hearts of different animals, for instance, mammals and birds have four chambers hearts. Highlighting that people hold a lot of feelings and concerns in this organ during life, Brian Doyle describes blue whales as the most giant animals in the world with the biggest heart. He poetically compares it with a room: “It’s as big as a room. It is a room, with four chambers. A child could walk around it, head high, bending only to step through the valves” (Doyle). Being the largest animals in the natural world, blue whales are the ones, which appear to be one of the less explored ones. People have obtained relatively little information about their ways of communication, mating and eating habits, and travel patterns. However, the fact that blue whales with the biggest hearts always travel in pairs and their moaning cries can be heard for miles underwater is precise.

This way, these two primary messages of the article logically transmit the lessons, which the author wants the readers to teach. The first presents a point that every single second of life is meaningful, and every moment and happening should be taken advantage. To introduce the second lesson, he mentions another metaphor and compares the heart to the house, in which a person lives alone. The person lets the new acquaintances in his or her life by opening the windows. Therefore, people can choose who they are willing to share their emotions and experience with, but the majority prefer to live alone due to their “constantly harrowed heart” (Doyle). During growing up, the hearts are “bruised and scarred, scored and torn, repaired by time and will, patched by force of character, yet fragile and rickety forevermore” and then repaired (Doyle). However, there are still unforgettable and touching happening, which make opening the windows of the heard worth doing.

In conclusion, despite the simplicity and briefness of the essay, its sense should not be underestimated. The author manages to impress, intrigue, touch the bottom of the heart, and provide readers with deep insights into each person’s most vital aspects, which are their life and love. The messages and lessons of the article are very close and vital and inspire us to reconsider habits, lifestyles, and values. The writer highlights the hazard of the rapid pace of life, which is common nowadays. People do not manage to enjoy each second, remember the pleasant moments and pay attention to the wonderful events, which they are surrounded. Moreover, Brian Doyle gently encourages the reader not to be afraid of opening their hearts and souls to new people and acquaintances. These aspects make life adventurous, enjoyable, and full of unforgettable experiences.

Doyle, B. “Joyas Voladoras.” The American Scholar, 2012, Web.

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Summary and The Main Idea of Brian Doyle’s "Joyas Voladoras"

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“Joyas Voladoras” by Brian Doyle. Summary and Symbolism Analysis Essay

Joyas voladoras essay: introduction.

The “Joyas Voladoras” essay by Brian Doyle speaks of hummingbirds and hearts, the life of whales, and the life of man. That’s a profound reflection on life, death, and the experiences in between. In other words, the essay examines the similarity of every creature on Earth. In this paper, I make an analysis of the piece of literature, describe its main ideas, identify the author’s purpose, and share my impressions about Joyas Voladoras.

When reading the essay, one cannot help but be immersed in the distinct imagery created by the writer. In Joyas Voladoras, Brian Doyle elaborates on the fierceness of life embodied in hummingbirds and creates a sharp image of a small beating heart for the reader, a heart producing billion heartbeats infinitesimally but strongly, faster even than our own.

He elaborates both scientifically and metaphorically. At the same time, he structures this particular piece of prose in such a way that people who read it should not concentrate on the scientific, for that is all that they will see. Instead, they should examine the essay in terms of the metaphoric.

After literary analysis it is clear that “Joyas Voladoras” is filled with metaphorical symbolism . Let’s take as an example the following phrase in one of the paragraphs: “ the animals with the largest hearts in the world generally travel in pairs .” While scientific in appearance, it is a metaphor for love in which the essay states that people with love in their hearts are never alone.

Even references made by Doyle to the Hummingbird are another metaphoric symbolism of the abruptness of love and the value which we should place on it. Basing on the various metaphorical symbols seen throughout Joyas Voladoras, one can say that the text symbolizes different kinds of love in the world and the way they are experienced.

The Symbolism of Brian Doyle’s Hummingbird

If one would pose a question of how to interpret the different animals portrayed in “Joyas Voladoras” essay as various aspects of love, then the Doyle’s Hummingbird could be symbolic of the concept of Eros or “erotic love.” This type of love is more commonly associated with the first stages of a relationship wherein love is based on physical traits, intense passion, and sudden affection. The intensity of the Hummingbird’s beating heart is symbolic of the passionate energy of love based on Eros.

The description of a “flying jewel” attributed to the Hummingbird is similar to how the love, based on Eros, is considered to be flashy and noticeable. Identical to a hummingbird love based on Eros alone does not last, it burns brightly just like the life of a hummingbird yet in a short time fizzles out.

Brian Doyle’s “Joyas Voladoras” has the purpose to state that this particular love is the worst kind to have since he symbolizes the people who are addicted to this type of love as experiencing emotional turmoil and heartache, as expressed by the heart of the Hummingbird slowing down when it comes to rest.

The line “if they do not soon find that which is sweet, their hearts grow cold, and they cease to be” is actually symbolic of the way in which people who prefer Eros love are actually addicted to the concept of loving and being loved forever moving from lover to lover, just like a hummingbird moves from flower to flower.

Joyas Voladoras: The symbolism of the Whale

The symbolic nature of the Whale as a type of love for Doyle takes the form of Philos, namely a kind of love which is based on the friendship between two people. While the phrase “the animals with the largest hearts in the world generally travel in pairs” is indicative of Philos love, other aspects of this particular type of love are also apparent.

An analysis of the type of grammar used by Doyle in describing the Hummingbird and the Whale shows that, for the Hummingbird, Doyle uses action gerund words which utilize the word “and” rather than a comma.

The result of such grammatical usage is thus an almost breathless mannerism in which readers read the parts detailing the life of a hummingbird. This is symbolic of the breathless nature of erotic love wherein those who ascribe to it find themselves flitting from action to action without heed or care.

On the other hand, when describing the blue Whale, Doyle utilizes exceedingly long sentences and traditional words interspaced with commas, which have the effect of slowing down the reader. This is intentional on the part of the author since Philo’s type of love is a form of love that begins after a long and prosperous friendship.

It is a type of love that builds up over time, creating strong affection, emotions, and a feeling of longing to be with that person. The nature of the size of whale hearts is symbolic of the intense emotions and love that build up over time, resulting in a type of relationship where two people stay together for a lifetime.

Joyas Voladoras: Summary

What is the main idea of “Joyas Voladoras”? Based on what has been presented in this paper, it can be seen that one aspect of the essay “Joyas Voladoras” by Brian Doyle is that it uses symbolism to express the concepts of Eros and Philos. While the paper possess other forms of symbolism, these particular aspects were chosen since they help to relay the message of the author that there are different types of love out there, each having its unique characteristics.

In summary, it is due to viewing the essay in this particular way that the continuous use of the word “heart” can thus be interpreted as symbolic of people continuously searching for love with the author warning in the ending of the possible pain that comes with this search.

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Joyas Voladoras Essay: Introduction The “Joyas Voladoras” essay by Brian Doyle speaks of hummingbirds and hearts, the life of whales, and the life of man. That’s a profound reflection on […]

Joyas Voladoras Meaning

Brian Doyle’s Joyas Voladoras is a book about birds. It is beautifully written and full of interesting facts. I enjoyed reading it and recommend it to anyone who loves birds or wants to learn more about them.

Joyas Voladoras is a work by artist Brian Doyle that depicts humming birds, a whale, worms, and a cat dragging itself into the woods to die. His approach uses a lot of symbols and anthropomorphism in order to capture your attention.

In comparing and contrasting differences and similarities between the Hummingbird, Tortoise, Blue whale, tiny insects, and humans, Doyle discusses love as well as emotion and insecurity. He mentions love as well as happiness; sadness; fears about death; relationships with family members; childhood memories; and the fragility of life.

You can either choose to live a long and passionate life like the tortoise or a short but beautiful life like the hummingbird. It’s up to you. Brian Doyle’s Joyas Voladoras is a book about life and how to live it. He teaches us that every creature on this earth has its own way of living and that we should all find our own way to live too.

In the beginning of the story Doyle reveals the meaning of “Joyas Voladoras”, meaning “Flying Jewels”. He brings to the reader, in vivid detail, the Hummingbird. With each following description, the reader is fed an informative education about this fascinating bird. Doyle describes the humming birds heart by saying that the humming bird has a, “thunderous wild heart the size of an infants fingernail” (147).

Brian Doyle does not just focus on the physicality of the hummingbird, but he also talks about their behaviors. He states that when a male hummingbird is looking for a mate he will, “zoom spectacularly close to her and then fly away again” (148). Brian Doyle uses his gift of words to bring the hummingbird to life on the page so that the reader can feel as if they are right there alongside him, observing these creatures in their natural habitat.

One aspect of Brian Doyle’s writing that I really enjoyed was how he wove together different stories, all while still staying on the topic of birds. He tells tales of a man who was attacked by a swan and also of a woman who had a pet bird that she loved dearly. These stories help to paint a picture of just how important birds are in our lives, even if we don’t always realize it.

He builds up his thoughts, giving the reader a chance to think about them before going into detail on the humming bird’s numerous skills. He claims that humming birds may fly “backwards or [travel] more than five hundred miles without stopping.” (147) “When they rest, though, they approach death.” (147) Doyle is grabbing the reader’s attention and stressing how fragile life is. You might live your entire life without knowing whether today would be your last day on earth.

Brian Doyle’s Joyas Voladoras is a series of interconnected essays that center around the theme of flight. The title essay, “Joyas Voladoras,” is about hummingbirds, and how their seemingly miraculous ability to fly is actually a product of their great fragility. In order to fly, hummingbirds must consume enormous amounts of energy, and as a result they are constantly on the brink of starvation. Their hearts are so large that they often burst, and their wings are so fragile that they can easily be broken.

Despite their fragility, hummingbirds are fierce fighters, and will defend their territory tooth and nail against any intruder. This fierce fighting spirit is what allows them to survive in the hostile environment of the rainforest.

Doyle uses the hummingbird to illustrate the fragility of life, and how even the most delicate creatures can be tough as nails when they need to be. This book is a beautiful and moving tribute to the humbling power of nature.

Like the Hummingbird, “their hearts barely beating.”(147) Doyle references the many variations of Hummingbirds to our own cardiac rhythms. When a humming bird dies, he claims that “each insane heart silenced, a magnificent song died away.”(147) Just as ours.

Brian Doyle captures our imagination and hearts with his Joyas Voladoras. Brian Doyle’s Joyas Voladoras is a collection of essays about birds, but also so much more. Doyle weaves together the lives of hummingbirds, eagles, owls, penguins, and albatrosses to the human experience. He writes about how we are all connected by “the small frail beating heart.”(147)

Doyle’s writing is lyrical and beautiful. He has a way with words that makes you see the world in a different way. He makes you feel the joy and sorrow of life. I laughed out loud at some parts and cried at others. This book is a moving and beautiful tribute to the birds and to life.

I would recommend this book to anyone who loves birds or wants to understand them better. It is also a good choice for those who enjoy beautiful writing and unique perspectives.

The significance of the dancing bells may be difficult to appreciate at first. However, given Doyle’s history, I learned that his son was born with only three out of four chambers in his heart. Through this instance, Doyle is attempting to communicate how valuable life is. And by using the hummingbird as a symbol for his experience with his son, he allows us to consider our own existence.

The title Joyas Voladoras, which translates to “flying jewels”, is significant because it represents Brian Doyle’s son and how his life was so fragile. Even though his son had a congenital heart defect, Brian still saw the beauty in him. Brian uses the hummingbird as a metaphor for his son because they are both small and delicate creatures.

Doyle also writes about different types of birds throughout the essay. He starts with the albatross, which is a bird that can live up to sixty years, and then moves on to discuss hummingbirds and sparrows. The albatross is significant because it represents something that is long-lived and has a lot of experience.

In conclusion, Brian Doyle’s Joyas Voladoras is a beautifully written piece that not only educates the reader about birds, but also makes them fall in love with these creatures. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a touching, informative read.

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