Joyas Voladoras Analysis

There are many moments in Doyle’s essay where it seemed as if he was just giving facts about hummingbirds and hearts. But in fact Doyle had a much bigger role for these facts to fill later on in his essay. He states that “Every creature on earth has approximately two billion heartbeats to spend in a lifetime.” (Doyle 148) He beings to talk about the different kinds of hearts, those with four chambers, three chambers, all the way to insects, mollusks, and worms all have one chambered hearts. Doyle is not giving us this information just so we can be more informed about hummingbird’s heart’s. He wants us to understand more about how they function, and how necessary they are. This is important to know because it makes readers reflect on the introduction of to “Joyas Voladoras”, where we learn that “having a son, Liam, who was born with three rather than four chambers in his heart” (Doyle 146) In his last paragraph Doyle starts to humanize the facts that we were given throughout the essay. This helps readers understand what Doyle is going through with his son’s medical

The first example of the resilience of the human spirit is Liesel dieing at old age after everything she went through. Markus Zusak in The Book Thief writes,”I traveled to Sydney and took Liesel away”(549). Liesel dies at an old age with her husband, three kids, and grandkids. She died far from Himmel Street, at Australia. Liesel survived losing her mom, dad and her brother. Liesel had to leave and create new friends while getting adjusted to her new mom and dad. Also, Liesel had to let go of her new parents, best friend Rudy, Max, and everyone who died during the bombing of Himmel Street. Liesel survived everything to once die of old age instead of any cause of disaster

In beginning of “Joyas Voladoras,” Doyle mostly talks about hummingbirds and their hearts. He explains how hummingbirds live up to their full potential when he states, “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” (pg. 30, lines 36-39). Basically, even though they die fast, they live to be amazing, beautiful, creatures. That’s just about the best they can do, it’s what they were meant to be in the world. They are doing what they were brought into the world to do, and that is all you can expect them to do. Doyle makes this even clearer by saying, “They had never seen such creatures… more than three hundred species of them whirring and zooming” (pg. 29, lines 6-10). They are unique, they are the

Human beings emotionally thrive on the will to survive, yet how they react to adversity will determine their length of drive they have within. Everybody will eventually face a situation where their mentality will be tested, no matter how happy their life had been. Even in fictional stories, authors must write out their characters facing a major conflict or else there would be no character build, a necessary component of a fantastic novel. Roman poet Horace quoted how the best traits of a person will lay dormant unless they are faced in a miserable situation. However, the results after facing an adversity are debatable. Adversity comes in multiple sized tests that shows how you react by what you experience personally and the results can be either negative or positive on the person’s behalf. Although people facing adversity are expected to present their best traits by Horace beliefs, the background of each individual is what truly determines their ability to grow or falter in undesirable situations.

Bryan Doyle starts off by throwing information to the reader about the hummingbird and its “pencil eraser of a heart.” He goes off explaining it’s many talents such as “they can fly backward,” or “they can fly more than five hundred miles without pausing to rest.” Doyle uses these facts to engage the reader and to allow them to think about their talents and what they are able to do. The author then cuts the hummingbird by saying that “the price of their ambition is a life closer to death; they

First analyzing the hummingbird, Doyle writes, “A hummingbird’s heart beats ten times a second. A hummingbird’s heart is the size of a pencil eraser… their hearts beating faster that we could clearly hear if we pressed our elephantine ears to their infinitesimal chests,” emphasizing the diminutive status as well as the rapid beat of the hummingbird’s heart. Writing “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… is a life closer to death; they suffer more heart attacks and aneurysms and ruptures than any other living creature,” Doyle shows

A German philosopher named Friedrich Nietzsche once said, “That which does not kill us, makes us stronger.” Nietzsche is trying to establish that everyone goes through tough times in their lives, but people can continue to grow on past their struggles. One will mature once they go through difficult problems in their lives. Solving problems and forgetting about sad times will help one grow as a person. In the classic story The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, the realistic fiction novel Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, and the dystopian sci-fi novel The 5th Wave By Rick Yancey, the characters are put into a situation where they are forced to come of age by coming across complications in their lives involving friends, family,

My abuela tells me bien viaje, or safe travels, every time I leave Nogales, Mexico. Nogales, Mexico is located south of Tucson, Arizona, by an hour and a half. Just across the border in Nogales, Arizona, I was born. Once I cross the border, I exchange the rest of my pesos for dollars at a casa de cambio. From there I make my way to Phoenix via a shuttle. It’s not until the wheels of the plane leave the ground that I realize just how much it all means to me, and how grateful I am to be Mexican.

Sometimes, the hummingbird uses its life wisely. It uses it life wisely by learning some cool tricks such as flying backwards before dying quickly. Doyle says “ “They can fly backwards…. They come close to death” (page 30, lines 16-19). They enjoy their life by learning cool tricks which make them glad.

“You only live once” and “Live life to its fullest” are both quotes almost everyone has heard at least once in their life. Throughout the story, “Joyas Volardores” Brian Doyle beautifully describes how one little creature can live life better than any other species. Through comparisons of other animals and factual evidence, the author is able to portray all the things a hummingbird is able to do in such little time and expresses the importance of living every moment with purpose. The average life expectancy of a human is seventy one years, a goldfish is ten years, and a shark is thirty years, but a hummingbird on average lives to be only two years old. Also, on average, the human heart beats once per second while the hummingbird heart manages

In “Joyas Voldoras” by Brian Doyle, Doyle uses various concrete details such as scientific facts to illustrate and express his theme and method which is basically the power of the heart. Doyle starts by illustrating his theme through the hummingbird and highly considering its heart as a biological organ, he then literally describes Hummingbird’s lifetime in four sentences “It’s expensive to fly. You burn out. You fry the Machine. You melt the engine”. Figuratively branded a short and fast life like a “hummingbird”.

Once we have a better way of viewing that better connection to the world, so that we can benefit from it and to better understand one another. In the poem Remember by Joy Harjo, specifically talks about making connections with the world and how we are all a part of the world--how we are all connected to each other and can benefit from a better understanding of our surroundings and other people, the since of tranquility and the way of life.

He thinks of the numerous things that would improve to enrich a long life, but eventually make living agonizing and hard to endure: "the whips and scorns of time,! Th' oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely, The pangs of despis'd love, the law's delay, The insolence of office” (Ham 3.1 70-75). He additionally measures the advantages and the weaknesses of each, however he never closes as to which is better. However, he concludes that people endure out of apprehension of what comes after the final gasp. He includes that this trepidation makes individuals quitters, undermining the force of conclusiveness and activity with thought and dread.

“Por una cabeza” by Carlos Gardel is an iconic and genre defining piece of music. It is the most famous piece of tango music and is a gateway to the world of tango. The summer before my junior year I took a trip to Argentina to visit family. We visited Caminito, the birthplace of tango, and I became fascinated by the dance and the music. I decided that I wanted to choreograph a tango for my dance ensemble back in DC. While I thought that this was going to be simple it was quite the opposite. Tango music is usually quite simple, yet it is often juxtaposed by the intricate moves of the dancers. Every movement has a specific meaning and intonation. If the move is slightly off, then it changes the meaning of the whole phrase. Each move combines

"To live means to suffer, because the human nature is not perfect and neither is the world we live in. During our lifetime, we inevitably have to endure physical suffering such as pain, sickness, injury, tiredness, old age, and eventually death. (The Big View).