The Heart In Brian Doyle's Joyas Voladoras

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Brian Doyle describes the importance of the heart in his essay “Joyas Voladoras”, and he ends the piece by providing examples of how external situations can influence the walls we place around it. Within the essay, Doyle writes that “We are utterly open with no one, in the end--not mother and father, not wife or husband, not lover, not child, not friend. We are open windows to each but we live alone in the house of the heart.” (142). This comment analyzes how even in the midst of family, friends, and loved ones we are still alone. The comfort of our close friends and loved ones may allow us to create the illusion that we are not alone, but in the heart we always truly will be alone.
Doyle’s viewpoint suggests that as children people we were able to open their hearts to anyone. They would tell their parents everything from likes and dislikes to deepest, darkest secrets. A childlike heart has no worries or anxieties to weigh it down. However, as time moves forward and children start to grow up, their hearts become …show more content…

They should be able to open themselves up to their significant other, and share everything that they feel with them. Doyle’s words suggest however, that not even they can provide the companionship their spouse needs. Doyle then goes on to mention that in youth people have childlike dreams that someone will eventually come into their lives forever. Their love and affection should “. . . savor and sustain us always . . .” (Doyle 143). However, as people grow older, the hurts and bruises that the heart sustains will never truly go away. These bruises eventually lead people to build walls around their hearts. While they continue to try and love, the walls further encase them in hurt and sorrow, causing them to become closed off and alone. This restricts other relationships, leading people to only act as “. . . open windows to each . . .” (Doyle

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