The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down A Hmong Child,...

‘The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures’ is a book written in 1997 by the author Anne Fadiman. This book is based on a true story of the life of a Hmong child, Lia Lee who is epileptic. She suffers from numerous grand mal seizures and eventually she becomes vegetative for the remainder of her life. The intention of this book, however, is not Lia’s condition, but to highlight the problems that exist between the two cultures and the constant battles that Lia’s doctors and parents face due to the cultural barriers that exist between them. This is not just only a story of an ill child but about the more diverse battle between Eastern and Western medicine and how each view and treat patients in such different ways. In this essay the different health-seeking strategies used during Lia’s illness, the contrasting views between Lia’s parents and the American healthcare profession als and the theories of illness causation will be discussed. The different views held by American healthcare professionals and Lia’s parents are clearly displayed in this story. There are several different theories of illness causation identified in the book. From the very beginning, the reason Lia’s epileptic seizures started are different between her parents and doctors. Her doctors believe the scientific rationale and they try and decode the information to find the cause (Helman, 2002). They test Lia’s blood and give her severalShow MoreRelatedThe Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down Essay876 Words   |  4 PagesSpirit Catches You Essay The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down is a book by Anne Fadiman about a Hmong family (the Lee’s) that moved to the United States. It deals with their child Lia, her American doctors, and the collisions of those two cultures. In Fadiman’s unbiased book I learned that there are many cultural differences between Hmong and Americans concerning opinions, stubbornness, and misunderstandings. To begin with, a cultural difference between Hmong and Americans are theirRead MoreThe Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down A Hmong Child1586 Words   |  7 PagesWorld Clashes In the novel, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures, Anne Fadiman exposes the clash between the Hmong culture and Western medicine, in addition to the lack of communication and language. Fadiman uses Lia Lee, a Hmong epileptic girl, as a symbol of cultural dissonance and reveals the effects of how a language barrier can have in the health care system. It is believed that all Hmong people have many souls within themRead MoreRole of Cross-Cultural Misunderstanding in Ruining Lias Life1219 Words   |  5 Pagesof a loving Hmong family, and just three months into her life, begins to reveal epileptic symptoms. According to the Hmong community, the condition is curable, and the presence of spirits in such a patient’s soul is considered a blessing. However, American doctors in a community medical center fail to understand and appreciate Lia’s parents’ approach to the child’s disease, and are only interested in saving this child’s life. As the conflict develops, it becomes apparent that the child will not beRead MoreThe Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down A Hmong Child Reflection Paper1868 Words   |  8 Pagessuddenly fall down and violently shack their whole body especially their feet and hands while their head turned to one side with foaming on the mouth and eyes turned back. It was very frightening to see and experience this. 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Since a baby, Lia suffered form epileptic seizures, which were viewed as a positive trait for the Hmong community; those people whoRead MoreThe Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down Essay1566 Words   |  7 PagesThe book titled The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: Talks about a Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures written by Anne Fadiman. Anne Fadiman is an American essayist and reporter, who interests include literary journalism. She is a champion of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction, the Salon Book Award, and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Current Interest. In the book, Anne Fadiman explores the clash between a county hospital in CaliforniaRead MoreThe Spirit Catches You And You Fall Dow n1888 Words   |  8 PagesCommonly, culture is considered large and extravagant events and holidays, such as Diwali, a wedding, or the Fourth of July. Each event and holiday have specific traits and rituals that occur to distinguish the event from everyday life, but culture isn’t exclusive to lavish events such as these and include everyday activities such as watching a football game and listening to a speech. Every belief, behavior, and symbolic system that a person shares with another is an example of culture. Authors Anne FadimanRead MoreExploring Life as a Refugee1234 Words   |  5 PagesIn the three books, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Culture by Anne Fadiman, Dreaming in Cuban by Christina Garcia, and The House at Sugar Beach In Search of a Lost African Childhood by Helene Cooper, each have a war refugee who lives a life full of tragedies. What is a war refugee you ask? War refugee is someone who has left their own country due to a dangerous event that is happening in their country. These people do not wantRead MoreThe Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down1779 Words   |  8 Pages(Gengler Jarrell, 2015). Fadiman (1997) recounted the conflict between a refugee family from Laos and a small hospital in California over the care of Lia Lee, a Hmong girl with severe epilepsy, in her book The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. Despite both sides wanting the best care for Lia, the lack of cross-cultural communication between her Hmong family and her American doctors, lead to her tragedy (Fadiman, 1997). Awareness regarding the disparities in culture and language of our patientRead MoreThe Spirit Catches You : Cultural Miscommunication1387 Words   |  6 PagesSpirit Catches You: Cultural Miscommunication All communication is cultural. It draws on ways we have learned to speak and give nonverbal messages. We do not always communicate the same way from day to day, since factors like individual personality, mood, and the context of the situation interact with the variety of cultural influences we have internalized that influence our choices. Communication is interactive, so an important influence on its effectiveness is our relationship with others. Do