Deeper Meanings of 'Heart': Beyond the Physical

293 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Metaphors in the tell tale heart

Have a Heart What does the word "heart" mean? Strictly speaking, a heart is an organ of the physical body which pumps blood into the organism. The term "heart," however, extends to more than the physical body. When lovers part, one will often claim to have a broken heart yet remain living. A saddened gent or lady will often clutch the area between the ribs at the center of the chest, and moan in sorrow over a lost lover. Physical or not, the heart in this case is also something that pumps life into the emotional body. "Don't lose heart," says a friend to another who has been discouraged by one of life's many trials. Now how can anyone lose a heart? I ask. Easily, by getting discouraged. Again, the heart becomes a symbol for pumping life into a system, but not a physical one. When one gets to the heart of the matter, she gets to its center - that which gives it meaning. When people beg, "Have a heart," they are asking you to be compassionate - to recognize the soul in another. Having a heart-to-heart talk means to share something from the center of our being with someone else. Speaking from the heart always implies communicating from what is real and essential in our lives. Perhaps the most common definition of the word "heart," therefore, should recognize that "heart" is something essential to every human being, whether it is physical or not.

Show More
Related

  • The Tell Tale Heart

    1666 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the “Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe, the narrator is extremely uncanny due to the reader’s inability to trust him. Right from the beggining the reader can tell that the narrator is crazy although the narrator does proclaim that he is sane. Since a person cannot trust a crazy person, the narrator himself is unreliable and therefore uncanny. Also as the story progress the narrator falls deeper and deeper into lunacy making him more and more unreliable, until the end of the story where the narrator gives in to his insanity, and the reader loses all ability to believe him.

    Read More

  • Sheep Heart Dissection

    1386 Words  | 3 Pages

    lots of oxygen in it (coming from the lungs), and the oxygen is one of

    Read More

  • Styles of An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge versus The Tell Tale Heart

    481 Words  | 1 Pages

    After the old man is dead and under the floorboards the police arrive, and the narrator remains calm and his "manor had convinced them.?Villains!" "Dissemble no more! I admit the deed! -- tear up the planks! -- Here, here! -- it is the beating of his hideous heart!" The narrator of "The Tell Tale Heart" shows that he is unreliable. Concluding the questioning by the police, the narrator had a sudden fear and assumed that the policemen have heard the old man?s heart beat. Not only the narrator could hear the old man?s heart beating, but it is assumed (from the audience perspective) that the police could hear the narrator?s heart beating. The narrator listening to the old man?s heart beat is a replacement of his own consciousness that brought out the guiltiness for murdering the old man.

    Read More

  • Individualism in Habits of The Heart

    2761 Words  | 6 Pages

    Habits of The Heart create a vision of the middle class American life with all its good, bad, strengths and weaknesses. Its examines the conflict that exists between individuality and community in this country, as well as how these conflicts effect our ability to form relationships with others, whether it is in a public arena or our own intimate relationships with family and friends. The very word individualism means to look out for number one, it implies a me society that has lost it’s way from the way it use to be. The title “Habits Of The Heart” creates images of love, faith, hope and commitment to others, a sense of belonging to something larger than yourself. Does individualism really exist, or is it that people tend to forget where they came from and how much they really are influenced by family, community and others around them.

    Read More

  • Epithelia Essay

    1097 Words  | 3 Pages

    the heart is made of a muscle called the cardiac muscle unlike other muscles in the body the cardiac muscle never gets tiered its constantly working and never stops. It squeezes blood out of the heart and then relaxes it to fill it back with blood again in and this process continues and happens everyday until you are dead. The heart beats non stop this is achieved because of the cardiac Muscle.

    Read More

  • Joyas Voladoras

    777 Words  | 2 Pages

    ian Doyle’s message was not very clear in the beginning of the passage but became more clear at the end. The heart is a symbol that represents life, love, emotions, and many other structures that make humans and animals alike come alive. He just wrote about the life of a hummingbird and its from beginning to end with a few examples of the chambers of a whale’s heart. Also, Doyle presents a few examples of animals that have different number of chambers and how they learn to survive being different, surviving by the number of chambers they have. But at the end, they would all still die like everyone else, but just either earlier or later. Finally, Brain explains about how a heart holds our lifetime. Our heart pumps non stop, not even stopping for some rest, but when it does, we die, a painless death at the end. I believe the message that Brian Doyle is saying in Joyas Voladoras is that no matter how miniscule or large ones’ heart is, it can still be strong or delicate (scientifically & metaphorically) it is very important to us either physically or emotionally. (Joyas Voladoras, Doyle) Line #97-98. “So much held in a heart in a day, an hour, a moment.” This means that no matter what we do, we must live under the condition of the heart, no matter if we are alone or with others. A small beating thing in your heart is worth more than you realize as it would be. It holds your lifetime; the past, present, and future. All hearts, no matter how big or small, we have our own limits.

    Read More

  • Artificial Heart Devices

    1792 Words  | 4 Pages

    humans have viewed the heart as more than just a physical part of the body. It

    Read More

  • Acute Myocardial Infraction Essay

    702 Words  | 2 Pages

    Our heart is a muscle. Which means, our heart needs oxygen. A heart attack takes place when the blood flow that brings oxygen to the heart is stopped. This goes on because coronary arteries that helps supply

    Read More

  • Kokoro: The Heart, the Mind, the Essence

    1618 Words  | 4 Pages

    There are a lot of connotations of the physical heart in Kokoro, not just in a spiritual way, but also the physical, blood pumping heart. The Japanese thought of the physical heart as the center of the being, the very essence of that person. When Sensei finally reveals his past to the student he says, “You revealed a shameless determination to seize something really alive from within my very being. You were prepared to rip open my heart and drink at its warm fountain of blood. I was still alive then. I did not want to die. And so I evaded your urgings and promised to do as you asked another day. Now I will wrench open my heart and pour its blood over you. I will be satisfied if, when my own heart has ceased to beat, your beast houses new life.” This excerpt has so much meaning of how important the author, Soseki, thought the heart to be. The beating heart is what keeps you alive, an...

    Read More

  • How We Wrestle Who We Are Brian Doyle

    476 Words  | 1 Pages

    When hearing the word heart one thinks about love. Even though the heart does not control emotions, we are programed to believe that our feelings come from our heart. It’s kind of ironic how Doyle portrays this concept in his essay. Asking himself rhymithical questions such as “will I still love him?” “What if I couldn’t love him?” and “what if he was so damaged I prayed for him to die?” (Doyle). All are normal questions asked when a love one is faced with a harsh or difficult medical condition. There is no difference in Doyle’s situation. He asks these to put emphasis on how heart he was just how badly he loved his son. His love for his son will never go away but he is going through time of disperse. He is physically writing about his pain with his heat, but he also portrays it in his style of writing.

    Read More

  • Illusion versus Reality in The Tell Tale Heart

    1144 Words  | 3 Pages

    How can we justify a man is mad or not? A man may talk like a wise man, and yet act like a mad man. In Poe’s "The Tell-Tale Heart", the narrator depicted a story that he killed the old man because of the old man’s so-call "evil eye" which made his blood run cold. Althought the narrator tried to persuade the reader that he was normal, several pieces of evidence of confusing illusion and reality adequately indicates his madness and absurdity. By examining his behaviour and mind, I will expound his madness thoroughly.

    Read More

  • The Heart

    1796 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Heart is a very important organ in the body. It is what keeps your blood flowing and your organs going. It is a tireless muscle that pumps more than two thousand gallons of blood every day. The blood that is pumped is filled with nutrition and oxygen (Colombo 7). It travels through out your body in less than sixty seconds. So it needs to be taken extra good care of. When abuse is put on the body, the heart’s performance is not at its best. The Heart is a major organ that needs loving and care. Everyone has only one and by abusing it, they are cutting their live span little by little. People can live their lives freely but how they choose to live them could be the difference between life and death.

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Healing Relationship In The Awakening

    828 Words  | 2 Pages

    We have found that the heart plays a very important role. Unless the heart cooperates, we are not able to get higher states of consciousness. In order to make the heart really work with you, relationships have to be set right. And, strangely, we find that the physical heart itself responds very differently after that. And it’s as though the heart is sending messages to the brain, and the brain starts functioning differently. If relationships are not in order, the heart just fails to cooperate, and that’s where we get stuck.

    Read More

  • What Is Heart Disease Essay

    1933 Words  | 4 Pages

    What is heart disease exactly? Heart disease is a disorder blood vessels within the heart. Heart disease cannot be cured. Once an individual is diagnosed with it, they will always have it. There are procedures that exist to help make the blood and oxygen flow towards the heart more comfortably. But unfortunately, the arteries will remain damaged, making it possible for a heart attack to occur.

    Read More

  • The Growth of International Tourism During the Second Half of the 20th Century

    397 Words  | 1 Pages

    years ago, only 1 in 20 UK families had a car. By the end of the last

    Read More

More about Deeper Meanings of 'Heart': Beyond the Physical

Open Document