Symbolism In Joyas Voladoras

Brian Doyle, the author of “Joyas Voladoras,” passionately writes about hearts due to his own experiences with his son, who was born with only three chambers in his heart. In his short story, “Joyas Voladoras,” Doyle further discusses hearts and the symbolic meaning they possess. Through examples with hummingbirds, whales, and people, he is able to convey that feeling vulnerable is a part of life. He discusses vulnerability through multiple situations: how it exists while taking risks, how it exists while seeking companionship, and how it is exists due to harsh realities of the current world. In “Joyas Voladoras,” Doyle suggests that the heart is constantly in a state of vulnerability. In “Joyas Voladoras,” Doyle uses the hummingbirds to represent that when someone takes risks, he or she is vulnerable to heartache. Doyle first describes how the hummingbirds live fast-paced and ambitiously everyday. They travel to many flowers, dive quickly, and fly long distances; however, at night, when they rest, they are susceptible to heart attacks and are at high risk of death. He then

He first points out how people often fortify their hearts, building a “wall” around themselves, in order to keep from being hurt. He then states, “You can brick up your heart as stout and tight and hard and cold and impregnable as you possibly can and down it comes in an instant” (Doyle). In this metaphor, he truly exemplifies how vulnerable the heart is. He describes how the heart can instantly be broken, and the wall can instantly fall, due to many sad, bitter events such as rejection, car crashes, deaths, and distant memories. Furthermore, Doyle uses this metaphor to show the magnitude of emotional connections in a person’s life that creates this vulnerability. Ultimately, Doyle uses a pessimistic view of life to express the constant risk of vulnerability that people