Analysis Of The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down By Anne Fadiman
Overcoming Language Barriers and Seeing Perspective The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman is a novel based on the real-life story of the Lee’s, a Hmong family who move to Merced, California after escaping from their home country of Laos following World War II. When the Lee’s arrive to Merced, they speak no English and are expected to adapt to Western culture. For them, it was complete culture shock. The novel focuses on Nao Kao and Foua Lee’s youngest daughter Lia, who is diagnosed by modern medicine with epilepsy and by holistic medicine with the spirit catches you and you fall down. Throughout the novel the Lee’s struggle to effectively communicate with many doctors, nurses and social workers due to the language barrier and cultural divide between the Hmong and the Americans. This raises the question, how important is perspective taking when deciding between modern medicines versus holistic medicine? A common theme throughout the novel is trust or lack thereof. The Lee’s had a difficult time trusting the doctors who were supposed to be making Lia healthier, but to the Lee’s it was as if she was only getting worse. The Lee’s were very skeptical of modern medicine and felt more comfortable with the Hmong cures. “Since Lia’s brain death, whatever scant trust Foua and Nao Kao had once had in American medicine had shrunk almost to zero … When their daughter May broker her arm, and the doctors in the MCMC emergency room told them it needed a cast, Nao Kao
The Inevitable Human Spirit In Panic, By Lauren Oliver
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Analysis Of The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down By Anne Fadiman
585 Words | 3 PagesHer parents saw this as qaug dab peg, “the spirit catches you and you fall down,” that Lia’s soul was scared out of her. In their eyes the seizures were sacred as she could be chosen as a ‘tvix neebs’ or ‘shaman.’ Although still worried, they took Lia to Merced Community Medical Center. Lia was diagnosed with epilepsy. The Lee’s wanted to do half western medicine as well as half traditional healing to try to get Lia’s soul to return, but they were unhappy with the side effects from the prescribed medications.
Summary: The Spirits And The Law By Kate Ramsey
818 Words | 4 PagesDarien Wellman Latin American History Dr. Nadel November 1, 2014 Ramsey, Kate. The Spirits and the Law: Vodou and Power in Haiti. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011. In the book The Spirits and the Law, author Kate Ramsey showed vodou history in relation to Haitian law.
Louise Erdrich's Love Medicine Analysis
255 Words | 2 PagesOutline The prescribed question that I have chosen is Power and Privilege: “How and why is a social group represented in a particular way?” The title of the text for analysis: How Native Americans are represented in Erdrich’s Love Medicine specifically on their relationship to white culture due to their history. Louise Erdrich’s Love Medicine focuses on the lives of a family of Native Americans.
Spirit Catches You Analysis
374 Words | 2 PagesI finish reading chapter 8 to chapter 13 in Spirit Catches you, and I am so impressed by this section. Because there is much irony in these chapters, additionally the tension of the story reaches its climax in chapter 11 to 12. At the beginning of this section, the author Fadiman puts herself into the whole story. The introduction of her communication experience with Hmong people leads to culture shock.
A Million Little Piece Sparknotes
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Spiritual Journey In Walking The Boundaries
709 Words | 3 PagesB: Australians are used to thinking that a journey is physical but they never think that the journey could be a spiritual one. In Jackie French’s 1993 novel, ‘Walking the Boundaries’ Martin, the main character, goes on a physical and spiritual journey where he learns about his family’s past and the importance of looking after the land. A: Thesis Statement: Jackie French uses third person narrative, an obvious plot and descriptive language to intrigue and engage the reader to see the physical and spiritual journey that Martin goes on.
A Rhetorical Analysis Of Mother Tongue By Amy Tan
417 Words | 2 PagesMother Tongue by Amy Tan tells how Tan and her mother were being treated as Chinese-American who spoke with a “broken” English accent. Tan talks about the struggles of starting off her writing career as many would say her English was not perfect or her writing was not that great but the support of her mother she finds her passion for writing and English in general. Breaking out the English by Arthur Chu explains his story on how he was ridiculed by his peers because his English was too perfect, so he spent a lot of time trying to sound like a “normal” Chinese-American citizen while still trying to stay true to himself. Mocking “Foreign Accents” and the Privilege of “Sounding White” by Muslim Reverie speaks on how we (as Americans) classify
Sweet And Respectful Analysis
611 Words | 3 PagesLessons from the Culture Every year we see family emigrate to other countries, and they face many challenges. The stories “Sweet, Sour, and Resentful”, by Firoozeh Dumas, and from “Fish Cheeks”, by Amy Tan, share similar cultures and really interesting stories. Also, both families from the essay share several challenges that they are face when they move to the United States of America. The two families share many similarities; however, they differ in to keeping their culture, showing openness, and teaching a lesson from their culture to others.
Paradise Of The Blind Food Analysis
1492 Words | 6 PagesIts influence derives from characters who depend on materialistic values to display prosperity, maintain power and stay healthy. Huong uses the characters’ meals to emphasize the conditions in which different echelons of society are forced to live and to portray the contrast in the character 's’ life styles. The authors first use of this representation is directed towards families who are at the bottom of the hierarchy and the characters financial struggles are illustrated through the quality of their food. For instance, when Chinh becomes ill with diabetes, Que makes great sacrifices in order to provide him with food and medicine throughout his illness. Huong’s oddly detailed description about their rapidly declining food supply provides insight into the harsh living conditions.
Summary Of Saving Sourdi
982 Words | 4 PagesPoint of View on Culture Among many literatures about Asian and Chinese culture “Saving Sourdi” by May-Lee Chai is one. This short story is about a young girl, Nea, and her sister, Sourdi, and what happens when Sourdi grows up when Nea does not want her to. Their family are Chinese and they moved to America.
Elia's Epilepsy In Hmong Culture
247 Words | 1 PagesWithin the Hmong culture there is great emphasis on symmetry, balance, and complementary sections in bodies, society, and cosmos. Additionally, the soul must be kept in balance to maintain good health; sadly, the soul of Lia was not kept in good health which lead to severe, poorly-treated epilepsy. The medical mistakes and lack of precise communication ultimately lead to an untimely death of Lia; however, between both parties dealing with Lia’s epilepsy, the severity of her illness could have been prevented if both parties took Eliade’s perspective on sacred space into account during treatment. Sacred space, in terms of Eliade’s perspective, is one of the most critical, cherished topics that defines his paradigmatic model for religion. The
Effects Of The Hmong Language In The Latehomecomer
888 Words | 4 PagesFor the Hmong in The Latehomecomer, language has both positive and negative effects on the Hmong people. Through Yang’s story, readers can see that verbal stories play a crucial role in the Hmong culture. The Hmong have a high value for stories and storytelling. Yang shows this when she says, “Like so many other children, in other parts of the world, in a time of nothing, we heard stories of what was before.
Analysis Of Midterm: The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down
1960 Words | 8 PagesMakenzie Griffith EDSE 460 Denise Hitchcock 1 March 2018 Midterm: The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down It is a story about a family who shows so much loyalty to their traditions and cultures, but it clashes with the strict American “norm” and creates conflict for their most prized possession, their daughter. Young Lia’s health is at risk when the doctors are trying to treat her epilepsy, but the culture barrier between them and her parents put her at risk. Lia’s parents, Nao Kao and Foua Lee believe that their ancient traditions and healing is what Lia needs in order to get better, but Lia’s doctors prescribe her with many prescriptions to help with the seizures and her parent’s inability to read or speak English to communicate
Interpreter Of Maladies By Jhumpa Lahiri Analysis
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