Metaphorical Resemblance to Actuality It’s extremely easy to break a heart, as it is also very easy to die. Not only are the fragility of the two similar, but the metaphorical and physical descriptions of the heart are greatly similar in many other ways. In Doyle’s short story, “Joyas Voladoras,” from Ways of Reading, he uses the physical description of the heart to show how fragile and short life is, but also shows the fragility of relationships and having complete trust of another person.
As a human, one feigns strength as a guise over our fragile animal nature. Additionally, people try to distance themselves from death and the thought of it, and fear the realization that life is just as long as the ticking timer of the heart. After all, the heart is a major factor in life, and whether delving into the metaphorical descriptions or the physical, a short mishap can likely lead to a major negative change in the quality of life. Life is fragile, and can easily be swayed and affected.
While it is easy to pretend or think that they are above the harms of life, they can never truly escape it. Just like the delicate metaphorical heart, the physical heart is also very fragile. A few missed beats will lead to someone no longer existing. Life’s ticking bomb of the heart waiting to stop will catch up to everyone. Not only can the physical heart malfunction with a stroke, but the emotional heart can be easily broken, whether in a toxic relationship, or unrealistic expectations.
While discussing emotions, Doyle claims, “You can brick up your heart as stout and tight and as hard and cold and impregnable as you possibly can, and down it comes in an instant, felled by a woman’s second glance… ” (148). In many cases like this, people act in ways for others to perceive them in greater strength than they are. However, this is not true beyond the surface, for in the end, everyone is a mortal animal. People are fragile animals too, whether they admit to it or not, and will only be on earth for a limited part of time.
Being on this earth for a limited time is a very disturbing thought for most people. While many turn to religion for explanations to help, people tend to push death as far from them as they can. Even in “Joyas Voldoras,” Doyle retains the idea and thought of death to a minimum, employing euphemisms to discuss death. This fear leads to disillusion, and people thinking that death will not effect them until it becomes too close to ignore, whether with the death of a close family member, or the rapidly failing health of their own self.
With Doyle’s seemingly emotionless language and implied lack of empathy towards death, the reader will notice that even with his close experience with death with his son, he still tries to keep death away from him and the reader explicitly. Even as Doyle’s son was born with heart problems, and Doyle’s Catholic faith gives him a sure idea of what happens after death, Doyle still fears it to a point that he is in the habit of not discussing it blatantly. As he states, “So much is held in a heart in a lifetime.
So much is held in a heart in a day” (148). The accomplishments of humans are therefore easily brought down by the nearly mortal heart. Doyle references the heart through his entire essay, with it as an extended metaphor for life itself. The heart, in its physical and metaphorical interpretations prove to be some of the most important parts of life. On the physical side it allows blood to flow around the body, serving as the logistic network for anything that needs to be at any point anywhere in the entire body.
Metaphorically the heart represents love and caring. For one part to be synonymously used with life and love, the heart is one of the most important parts of the body. Without a heartbeat, there will be no life, and without human emotions, life would be fundamentally different for all. With Western culture’s focus on the metaphor of the heart as the center of emotions, it is sure that the heart is an extremely important and a fundamental part of life, and mustn’t be ignored, for without it, ife will not be able to exist in any known form. While Doyle uses a simplistic and factual style of writing to discuss the physical attributes and important of the heart, he cleanly transitions in the last paragraph to the emotional importance the heart has. With society’s double importance on the heart, it is no mystery why Doyle would write an essay on life using the heart as an extended metaphor for life in general. Thus, Doyle’s essay about life simply notes the fragility and abruptness of it, whether blatantly acknowledged or not.
Perceptions of Life “You can spend them slowly, like a tortoise, and live to be a hundred years old, or you can spend them fast, like a hummingbird, and live to be two years old. ” (148) Doyle states that hearts of many animals have similar amounts of heartbeats. However, with the idea that all a very similar amount of beats, but have adapted to use it in different amounts of time shows that hearts are simply ticking time bombs. Yet seeing life as a ticking time bomb can generally be productive to achieving what is wanted in life and being able to die without any regrets.
With that different view, whether depressing at first will lead to a realization of how precious time can be, and how so many waste it doing what they do not want to even be doing. With that new view of life, at first a person may begin to fear being brave or even try to take their mind off of death even more. Yet by acknowledging it as coming, it gives a great opportunity to make the most of the present. Not only will death stop people, but other changes in life, whether aging or other less controllable circumstances come about.
Thus, if there is something that someone has wanted to do or achieve, it is best to not put it on the back burner, for there is where it will stay. Because of the fear of death, most people push it away and try not to think about it, only giving them a false reality of how much time they truly have left. Furthermore, those who take careers for money over what they want can truly regret that, and realize that they would much rather be doing what they love for significantly less pay, then trudge through ever day, waste half of their life counting down how many days until they are able to leave that job.
Yet by trying to make the most of each moment leaves the opportunity for when death or even more busy circumstances approach, a person will not be riddled with regret of what they have not done. A person should be filled with memories of what they have done, not what they have always wanted to achieve. Therefore, on death, regret may come up, but a person may just want to surround themselves with memories of the past, and people they care truly about.
Like Tolstoy’s novel, The Death of Ivan Ilych, the eponymous character surrounds himself with the excesses and wonderful success in life, but ends up regretting it. He truly wanted to spend time with his family and not become alienated from them. Therefore, he is able to die happily when his family acknowledges him. In a much less extreme example, a person who pursues what they want and are able to accomplish what will become great memories of the future will not fear the ticking time bomb of life, yet notice it in the background and even use it as a reason to achieve all that they have been doing.
While it is difficult to not regret anything, a person who notices that their time on this earth is short, and knows that wasting years on something that they will not receive positive memories from will be riddled with regrets later on when they are finally forced to realize that their time is very short. The way to not being startled by the rapidly approaching time bomb of death is to acknowledge it from the start, make slight changes in lifestyle of necessary, and precede on, knowing how precious time truly is.
