- Was Doyle intention of the essay to leave you feeling appreciative of life or to see and be aware if the fragility of it?
- Why did he take so long to get to his main point in the essay?
I believe that this essay is both a personal essay and a nature piece but at the end more personal. He brings nature to compare the size of a hummingbird and whale mostly. Showing these two and expressing them although they are so different, they both feel the same. It shows the complexities of being alive and the beauty and pain that comes with existence. Doyle brings in personal experiences in the last paragraph that shifts our mind and shows much vulnerability. He gave examples of things he went through and puts the reader into his lens of things in his life.
In the last paragraph, Doyle shifts to a second person’s point of view, putting the reader into his shoes. He draws the reader in and makes relations that the reader more than likely has experienced or will soon experience that he has. He really focuses on sadness and moments that are hard for most people like he made an example about his mother and father being old and possibly passing. This makes a very emotional connection to the reader for it’s no longer about a hummingbird or whale but could be or is you. It’s not a happy ending story, but it brings the reader in and makes the reader feel what he is trying to say.
I think his relationship with joy is confusing. When he is faced with joy, he avoids it. He talks about building a wall and i think he mentions this because he builds a wall to not get hurt. When he is joyous, he gets hurt. So, he built a wall to prevent that and when he takes that wall down it’s scary for him.
