People
“…holding back tears makes them drain upward, higher and higher, until one day your head just explodes and you’re left with a stub of a neck.”
— Alice Hoffman
Behind the line May contain spoilers.
Our reading
An editorial interpretation.
An image of tears as liquid with nowhere to go: held back, they drain upward inside the head, higher and higher, until it bursts. It's a darkly comic exaggeration about pent-up feeling, ending on the absurd picture of a neck stub, so crying is presented as necessary release.
Context reviewed