Analysis Of Joyas Voladoras

In the essay, Joyas Voladoras, Brian Doyle claims that although there are very small and very large creatures, our hearts are all still beating. We get to choose what to do with the limited amount of heartbeats we have. He first supports his claim by emphasizing how small and fragile hummingbirds are. He then proceeds to explain how tiny their hearts are and how they function. To contrast with the hummingbird, Doyle then informs the reader about how massive the Blue Whale is. Lastly, all creatures of all sizes and their hearts get compared to one another. Doyle’s purpose is to teach the reader about the lifestyles of two completely different animals. He does this to prove that although we’re all different, we only have one life and we get to

choose how to live it. He creates a compassionate tone for the audience reading about the hummingbird.
The hummingbird is a tiny, beautiful creature.

In the first paragraph, Doyle uses juxtaposing to contrast the size of humans to hummingbirds. “...If we pressed our elephantine ears to their infinitesimal chests.” Us humans don’t see our ears as huge components to our body, but when they’re compared to a hummingbird they suddenly become larger. This gives the reader a better understanding of how small these birds are.in paragraph two, the hummingbird’s daily activities are described and the color of their feathers are vividly presented. By using metaphors, there is a unique comparison between the bird and a human. “...Each thunderous wild heart the size of an infant's fingernail.” Once again, this puts an emphasis on how petite the hummingbird is seen to be. The author changes the pronouns in paragraph three to put the reader in a new position. “You burn out. You fry the machine. You melt the engine.” The reader is now thinking about how they choose to use each of their heartbeats. This quote basically says that there comes a time when life ends. You decide what you’re going to do each day, which eventually leads to life burning out. This also helps the essay begin to shift topics by drifting away from the hummingbird and starting to talk about bigger mammals like the

human.
The fourth paragraph begins talking about a new animal, the Blue Whale. Doyle is now informing you on the biggest heart in the world. The use of similes like “The valves are as big as the swinging doors in a saloon,” make the whale seem very large. The human heart is approximately the size of your hand when you make a fist. Comparing a whale’s heart to the size of a door puts this giant creatures size into perspective. Paragraph five begins comparing different sized animals to one another. Although some are small and others are huge, they still have hearts with chambers. Doyle uses repeated sentence structure to inform the audience how many heart chambers each creature has. Ending the paragraph with “We all churn inside,” shows how every living thing has some sense of unity. Lastly, reasoning and examples are used in paragraph six. The author is now emphasizing how much is contained in a heartbeat. We don’t realize how fast our lives are going by and that we only have one chance at this wonderful thing called life. The pronouns have changed to “we”, and this brings the whole audience together as one.
Joyas Voladoras goes from one extreme to the next. Beginning with the hummingbird, transitioning to the Blue whale, and ending with humans. Brian Doyle manages to help the reader consider what they're doing with their limited two billion heartbeats.