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In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Explain the following expression: "She sent her face to Joe's funeral, and herself went rollicking with the springtime across the world

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Final answer:

In 'Their Eyes Were Watching God,' the quoted expression indicates the protagonist's mixed feelings of public mourning and private liberation with her husband's death, conveying a sense of newfound freedom with spring's arrival.

Step-by-step explanation:

In Zora Neale Hurston's novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, the expression "She sent her face to Joe's funeral, and herself went rollicking with the springtime across the world" signifies the protagonist's complex emotions surrounding the death of Joe, her husband. This line illustrates the character's internal dichotomy between her public mourning and her private sense of liberation following the end of a controlling marriage. The external face she presents at the funeral is that of a grieving widow, fulfilling societal expectations, while internally she feels a surge of freedom and the joy of new beginnings that come with the changing season of spring.

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