Affliction In The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down

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Suffering propels people to change. This change has both the power to heal and the power to destroy. Sometimes, even “affliction has its gifts” giving a seriously ill patient and caretaker potential to bring them closer to one another or create a divide too deep for reconciliation. It may sound absurd that a disease can be a “gift”, but problems cause us to redirect ourselves and focus on the present. Times of crisis changes the way we think about ourselves and about others. A disease can be a “gift” because it teaches us valuable lessons we would never have learned without it. In the literary works Tuesdays with Morrie and The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, the sickly patients in both stories profoundly influence themselves, their families, …show more content…

In The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, a Hmong family and American doctors constantly collide due to their two very different cultures which result in Lia’s medical issues. Lia Lee is a Hmong child who was diagnosed with severe epilepsy. Her parents wanted to treat her using Hmong traditions while her American doctors wanted to treat her the biomedical way. Both sides fail to understand one another. Neil and Peggy are innately good doctors because they help disadvantaged families like the Lees, but their ignorance towards the Hmong culture gave them obstacles in providing the best care for Lia. Neil and Peggy could not tell “how much of their inability to get through was caused by what they perceived as defects of intelligence or moral character, and how much was caused by cultural barriers” (Fadiman 47). The communication barrier caused the Lees to not take care of Lia the way the doctors had instructed them to. Due to the cultural divide, the Lee’s were noncompliant to Lia’s extensive medicine regime. Lia seized more frequently because her body did not have the right amount of medication. The doctors at MCMD “found the situation particularly tragic because they considered it preventable” (Fadiman 55). Not only did the doctors hard work “not receive a single word of thanks… [they were] greeted with resentment” (Fadiman 57). Lia’s disease frustrated the doctors because they could not treat her the way they wanted. Lia’s situation did not alleviate the frustration the Lees had either. The doctors’ reasoning “only strengthened the parents’ opposition. [Nao Kao and Foua] said if the doctor drew any more blood against their will, they would both commit suicide” (Fadiman 51). The Lees were very apparent in their distrust with the American medical system. They did not want their daughter to be tied up to machinery and given a mountain of medication. Even after Lia returned from foster care, the

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