Analysis of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down

1258 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Problems of interpersonal communication in a multicultural society

Tradition is defined in the dictionary as the handing down from generation to generation of the same customs and beliefs. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, I believe has two main topics addressed: the traditions of the Hmong people, and the dangers of being unable to communicate. The misunderstanding of these two consequential points, I believe caused the majority of conflict that arose.

Can tradition prevent open-mindedness? Lia's parents reasoning of her seizures as "not so much a medical problem as a blessing", I think helped them have the ability to cope. However, I believe that it also got in the way of proper treatment and caused severity of her medical condition in increase.

I have learned that tradition can be a magnificent bestowal, however one must be aware and still maintain an unbiased realization that other alternatives exist.

Rumors can cause reification if not clarified. The canards the Hmong people had heard about the United States and the medical practices had been the origin of some of the conflict. This chapter lead me to ponder the obscure rumors I had heard, and to consider how they had impacted my views, mindset, and even influenced decisions.
The example of Conquergood's success working with medical treatments in the Hmong community was inspiring, and taught me that by being knowledgeable and sensible of another's culture can help make large progress.

In my life I have seen how even while speaking the same language there can be communication problems. Adding the inability to speck the same language and then the complexity of describing medical conditions, I can see how the situation could turn out poorly and cause troubling effects. This chapter has helped me better understand why the Hmon...

... middle of paper ...

...iguing and gruesome at the same time. My entire life I have been blessed with the ability to invasion the scenes of a book and be able to have a mental picture of the events. While reading this passage, I had a difficult time because I could visualize the gory depictions described. While I respect the rights to practice ones own beliefs, I find it hard to comprehend being able to witness the animal sacrifice. While I respect Lees view and beliefs, I feel as though the rituals surrounding their beliefs are superstitious.

I thought the remark you made was profound convening whither it was symbolic or the real thing, when you said "....to a devout Roman Catholic, the bread and wine are not a symbol of Christ's body and blood but the real thing". This leads me to believe that just like the Catholics, the Hmongs believe that their ceremonies are the "real thing" as well.

Show More
Related

  • Summary Of The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down By Anne Fadiman

    943 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down tells the story of a young Hmong girl stricken with epilepsy, her family, her doctors, and how misunderstandings between cultures can lead to tragedy. The title comes from the Hmong term for epilepsy, which translated, is “the spirit catches you and you fall down”. Anne Fadiman alternates between chapters on Hmong history or culture and chapters on the Lees, and specifically Lia. The condensed history of the Hmong portrayed here starts at their beginning, and traces their heritage, their movements, and why they do what they do as they flee from enemies to country to country. This record allows the reader to better understand the Lees and their situation without bogging him down with details that may

    Read More

  • Examples Of Ethnocentrism In The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down

    852 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the book The Spirit Catches you and you Fall Down, ethnocentrism can also be seen. Throughout the book the family and the doctors have different ideas of medicine/healing techniques are often disagreed on. It’s important for the doctor to see that biomedicine has its own intentions of saving patient through standard procedures and beliefs. Understanding those terms will shed some light on the culture of the patient, which has their own intentions, beliefs, and rules as well. Breaking down ethnocentrism to find an agreement is a good goal to accomplish in order have successful prognosis and healing. In addition, shedding the ethnocentrism will allow the doctors to see the different cultural beliefs and not judge right away. Although, some cultural remedies may not always work, it’s wrong for people to have the mindset of ethnocentrism without even considering their beliefs first.

    Read More

  • The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down By Anne Fadiman Analysis

    1386 Words  | 3 Pages

    Union between two quarrelsome objects can be the most amazing creation in certain situations, take for instance, water. Originally, water was just hydroxide and hydrogen ions, but together these two molecules formed a crucial source of survival for most walks of life. That is how marriage can feel, it is the start of a union that without this union the world would not be the same. A Hmong mother, Foua took it upon herself to perform a marriage ceremony for the author of “The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down”, Anne Fadiman. In this miniscule event, two cultures with completely conflicting ideas came together to form a union. In this union, an American was celebrating an event in a Hmong way, truly a collision of two cultures.

    Read More

  • Lia Lee Case Study

    1193 Words  | 3 Pages

    There is considerable evidence of the Lee’s having both low print and oral literacy. The Lee’s spoke very little English; they also were illiterate in both English and Hmong (Faidman, 1997). Another contributing factor to their health literacy was their beliefs about medicine. Because of the dissonance between the Lee’s beliefs and the American medical system, it was unclear if the Lee’s fully understood the cause of Lia’s epilepsy or the purpose of her prescribed medication. Their motivation to learn may also have been a factor; they believed they already knew what caused Lia’s epilepsy and what healing she needed. Faidman describes cases of successfully communicating western medical ideals with Hmong people, but Lia’s case is not an example of effective cross-cultural understanding. The Lee’s low level of health literacy severely impacted their ability to successfully understand and administer Lia’s medication, which may have negatively affected her health outcomes. Some strategies to improve communication suggested by Egbert and Nanna (2009) that may have helped the Lee’s include using plain language that is culturally sensitive, spending more time with the patient to ensure understanding, and using a, “...teach-back method, in which patients repeat back to the provider the information they believe they have just

    Read More

  • An Analysis Of Barre Toelken's Seeing With A Native Eye

    949 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Barre Toelken’s essay “Seeing with a Native Eye: How Many Sheep Will It Hold?”, the ways in which one culture perceives another and the criteria used to make judgements are explored. Toelken states “I think I can say something about how differently we see things, envision things, look at things, how dissimilarly different cultures try to process the world of reality” (10-11). In essence, Toelken is alluding to how different cultures will interpret their experiences and rituals according to their own set of beliefs and practices. This complicates situations in which the experiences or rituals are not comparable across cultural lines; someone will always be missing an aspect or a significant purpose if they do not try to “see it as much as possible with the ‘native eye’” (12). In other words, one must immerse themselves in the culture they are analyzing, while not comparing it to their own cultural experiences. One must consider all the cultural implications of that specific culture when wondering why things are done a certain way. Toelken provides

    Read More

  • The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down - Anne Fadiman

    1624 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...uals, even if they don't agree with them. It really falls to nurses to address the situation properly, and effectively ensure that the cultural communication between the doctor and the patient does not break down. Nurses most of all have to communicate with patients in a healing way, even if they do not agree with mystical remedies because the nurse has to recognize that there is nonetheless a function that mystical ritual remedies do serve, even to western medicine: to comfort the patients and their families. Ancient rituals or customs, retained to some extent or respected by western caregivers, can serve to maintain a healing and positive attitude, and as a psycholgocial support which the nurse can provide through respect and symbolic use of non-western cultural myths as a psychological stimulant to assist the healing process and inspire the patient thereof.

    Read More

  • Critical Analysis Of The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down

    1772 Words  | 4 Pages

    Likewise, after Lia was thought of being possessed by an evil spirit, the community thought of her as a poor girl disturbed by the lost souls. Apparently, the community never considered Lia suffering from psychiatric disorder and mental illness. Instead of seeking professional assistance, the family resorted towards alternative healers and along the lines of negative attitudes and expectations from modern science application and therapy. It was not at all wrong to humanize medicine, but apparently, as a multi-cultural community, the Hmong people became too ignorant and indignant over the applications and benefits of modern medicine applications. Staying firm over their religious affiliations and conduct, the maximum effect of healing becomes misaligned and ineffective.

    Read More

  • The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down Analysis

    1025 Words  | 3 Pages

    In “The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down” by Anne Fadiman, the whole story revolves around Lia, the thirteenth child of Lee family. Lee family was a refugee family in USA and Lia was their first child to be born in US. At the time of time of birth, she was declared as a healthy child but at the age of three it was founded that she is suffering from epilepsy. In the words of western or scientific world the term epilepsy mean mental disorder of a person and in Hmong culture, epilepsy is referred to as qaug dab peg (translated in English, "the spirit catches you and you fall down"), in which epileptic attacks are perceived as evidence of the epileptic's ability to enter and journey momentarily into the spirit realm (Wikipedia, 2014)

    Read More

  • Culture In The Hmong Culture

    1911 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Hmong people, an Asian ethnic group from the mountainous regions of China, Vietnam and Laos, greatly value their culture and traditions. The film “The Split Horn: Life of a Hmong Shaman in America” documents the seventeen year journey of the Hmong Shaman, Paja Thao and his family from the mountains of Laos to the heartland of America. This film shows the struggle of Paja Thao to maintain their 5000 year-old shamanic traditions as his children embrace the American culture. Moreover, the film shows that one of the major problems refugees like Paja Thao and his family face upon their arrival to the United States is conflict with the American medical system. Despite the dominant biomedical model of health, the film “The Split Horn” shows that

    Read More

  • The Importance Of The Hmong Culture

    1026 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Hmong culture is firmly rooted in their spiritual belief of animism, ancestral worship and reincarnation. These beliefs connect them to their sense of health and well-being. They view illness as having either a natural or a spiritual cause. A spiritual cause results in a “loss of souls” or is an action or misdeed that may have offended an ancestor’s spirit (California Department of Health Services, 2004, Purnell, 2013, p. 317). The soul escapes the body and may not be able to find its way back home. The Hmong also believe that a combination of natural and supernatural cause’s results in illness, and spells or curses, violation of taboos, accidents, fright, and infectious disease are other causes for illness (Centers for Disease Control

    Read More

  • Tradition in Roberto Benigni’s Life is Beautiful and Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

    1035 Words  | 3 Pages

    We all have traditions in our lives, but most of them vary between us. Where we are the same is that we have a genetic history of traditions. So what defines a tradition? A way of thinking, behaving, or doing something that has been used by the people in a particular group, family, society, culture, etc., for a long time. An inherited, established, or customary pattern of thought, action, or behavior. Also a belief or story or a relating to the past that are commonly accepted. This information should help us to understand that we are more tradition oriented that we think. Since the beginning of time there have been traditions that exists in our genetic makeup. From the mammals, animals, and fish that migrate every year to humans celebrating the changing of the seasons or making sacrifices to their Gods. They all are traditions that are followed year to year and generation to generation, most altering only slightly through the years. This helps to establish a tradition of traditions in all species.

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Health Disparity In Health Care

    1001 Words  | 3 Pages

    The goal of this lesson is to explore how we can improve communication to eliminate language barriers between healthcare providers and patients in our organization and to establish culturally and linguistically appropriate goals, that provide safe, equal, and quality care to all our clients regardless of race, ethnic, or socioeconomic status. At the end of this lesson we should be

    Read More

  • Personal Narrative: My Family Culture

    593 Words  | 2 Pages

    Traditions are important in any family because they help to pass down knowledge, material objects,

    Read More

  • Upjohn Pharmacy Case

    1745 Words  | 4 Pages

    “Communication problems, beyond the obvious language differences, became a real barrier to honest dialogue”.

    Read More

  • Cultural Competence and Intercultural Communication

    1667 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the United States today, a nurse is more likely to encounter patients who speak a language that is different from their own. This kind of intercultural difference poses a formidable communication challenge, as one’s ability to communicate will depend on whether one can understand one another's verbal and nonverbal codes (Jandt, 2012).

    Read More

More about Analysis of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down

Open Document