In the essay Joyas Voladoras, the author Brian Doyle describes the physical attributes of the hummingbird, specifically the heart, and expands his discussion to convey sentiments about the emotional aspects of the human heart. He accomplishes this through his use of figurative language and shifts in tone. Doyle’s use of figurative language when describing the physical features of the hummingbird and it’s heart reminds the reader that the heart is both scientific and emotional. In the first paragraph, he tells us to think about the hummingbird for a while and repeats the phrase “a hummingbird’s heart” three times to indicate to the reader that the essay will focus primarily on the heart. In the second paragraph, he makes an analogy between humans and hummingbirds. “Consider for a moment those hummingbirds who did not open their eyes again …show more content…
In paragraph three, he says that it is expensive to fly because “You burn out. You fry the machine. You melt the engine.” Here he is comparing us to machines, our hearts being the engine. He then goes on to say that the reader can spend their two billion heartbeats slowly like a tortoise, or quickly like a hummingbird. In paragraph four, he informs the reader about the number of chambers contained in the hearts of each kind of animal, and then in paragraph five, he talks about the emotional properties of the human heart. When he says, “So much held in a heart in a lifetime,” he does not mean that literally. Many of us tend to bottle up our emotions and are not one-hundred percent honest others, including the ones we love. Doyle ends with a list of things that could tear down the walls of your heart such as a dying cat dragging itself into the forest, a car crash, and a memory of your father. This list makes the reader feel many emotions including sadness, worry, and