The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman
>
> Anne Fadiman wrote an eye-opening book titled, The
> Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. Fadiman is
> the editor of The American Scholar and has been
> published numerous times. In this book, she has
> documented the life of Hmong immigrants in Merced,
> California. I think she thought it was important to
> tell this story of the Lee family to open everyone's
> eyes to different cultures. Most of the field work
> took place in city of Merced. Here, she ran into
> some problems while gathering her information. The
> language barrier was obviously a huge one. Luckily,
> she found a few translators to interpret this
> complex language of the Hmong. Something that I
> thought she did a great job on was taking everyone's
> various opinions and tying them all together. Anne
> spoke with educated doctors, racist townsmen,
> teachers of the Hmong children and the elders of the
> Hmong culture, and each had opposite opinions yet
> she stood objective. I think judging a person or
> culture can be a somewhat natural
> event to a lot of under educated people. But her
> conclusions of the Lee family and their ancestors
> are only based on facts and not judgments. She makes
> the facts clear that the Hmong have suffered years
> of wars, forced relocations and poverty. But
> inevitably, they remain strong in the foreign
> country of America.
>
>
> Before I read this book, I have never heard of the
> Hmong. I had no idea that they were a group of
> people who were forced into our country and never
> fully adapted. Their dedication to their culture
> came off as stubbornness to the Americans
> they came in contact with. But all they wanted
> was to return to the mountains of Laos and live the
> way of their ancestors. All they got were small
> houses in the poverty stricken town of Merced,
> California. Away from everything they know, the
> Hmong had to adapt in this foreign country and learn
> everything over again. And a lot of it they did not
> want to learn. Having lived only in America, where
> cultures vary but are generally based on
> similarities, it is easy to get caught up in the
The Latehomecommer by Kao Kalia Yang is a beautifully crafted memoir. Yang’s distinct prose style is captivating combined with her powerful narrative about the Hmong immigrant experience in America creates an unforgettable and insightful piece. She masterfully captures not only her story as an immigrant, but that of her whole family and to some extent the entire culture. Yang’s use of voice, particularly her use of a distinctly different more child-like voice when depicting her younger self, is a large contributing factor to what makes this memoir so unique and engaging. In The Latehomecomer, Yang captures the voice of herself as a child in a way that is so effective that it inspired me to go back through my memoir and attempt to do the same.
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In The Latehomecomer, by Kao Kalia Yang shares her story and the story of her family’s search for a home and identity. Her family’s story voices the story of the Hmong people and their plight. From every stage of their journey, from the mountainous jungles of Southeast Asia to the freezing winter of Minnesota, Yang and the Hmong were compelled to redefine their identity, willingly or unwillingly. While growing up, Yang’s parents would often ask her, “’What are you?’ and the right answer was always, ‘I am Hmong.’” (Yang, 1) For “Hmong” to be the right answer, then what does it mean to be “Hmong”? From the personal story shared by Yang, and the universal story of the Hmong people, the Hmong identity cannot be contained in
The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down by Ann Fadiman is a very interesting book. It’s amazing how difficult it is for Americans to understand other cultures because the United States is such a diverse country. However, as an American, I understood the frustrations that Lia Lee’s doctors’ felt when trying to diagnose and treat her properly. In this book both the American doctors and the Hmong peoples faced many hardships and barriers when trying to communicate with each other. After having read this book I can understand where both groups were coming from and reasons for their actions. I could only imagine the level of difficulty and anger that the doctors and Lia’s parents must have experienced over that time period.
Upon their arrival, Hmong faced “multiple social, cultural, educational, economic, and institutional barriers and challenges” (Hmong National Development, 2004; Lee, Jung, Su, Tran, & Bahrassa, 2008,
The memoir, The Latehomecomer, written by Kao Kalia Yang, presents the oppression and the persecution of the Hmong people in an interesting, informative style, but still not boring or overwhelmingly preachy. To understand her writing it is important to understand her history. Yang is a Hmong woman, who was born in Ban Vinai Refugee Camp in Thailand. Since then, she moved to the United States, graduated from Columbia University and wrote The Latehomecomer. Her book gives her audience a glimpse into the not as recognized topic, the history of the Hmong people, when Laotian and Vietnamese soldiers forced the Hmong people out of Laos and into the Refugee camps of Thailand. She wants her readers, which could be anyone who wants to learn more about Hmong culture, ...
Thi Wey uf thi Wond by Amus Oz, os ebuat e men nemid Shomshun Shionbeam, end hos voiw uf hos sun, Godiun. Shomshun wes e molotery, pulotocel, end sucoel hiru emungst hos kobbatz. Hi os e fuandong fethir uf thi Hibriw Lebur Muvimint. Piupli on hos kobbatz luukid fur hom fur gaodenci, biceasi thos men wes on tup physocel end mintel shepi divutong ell uf hos lofi tu liernong es mach es nicissery end thi rimeondir tu stey on piek shepi. As uni cen omegoni, hi wuald ixpict thi semi uf hos sun, end hi duis bat hos sun osn't thi semi men es hos fethir. Hos fethir dodn't hevi sumiuni ilsi meki e dicosoun loki thet fur hom end hi cen't meki thet dicosoun fur Godiun. Shomshun, rigerdliss huw mach hi cerid fur hos sun, pashid hom tuu fer end hed tuu hogh uf en ixpictetoun, end os thi siid uf Godiun's dieth. Shomshun hed meny strung biloifs, ivin thusi uatsodi uf pulotocs end molotery. Whin hi sorid Godiun, hi kniw ot wesn't hos muthir cumpliti rispunsoboloty tu reosi hom end hi dod whet wes nut ixpictid uf min on thi kobbatz, hi hilpid reosid hos sun. Godiun's muthir os Reye Griinspen, whin shi merroid Shomshun, shi wes 23 end hi wes 56. thrii munths eftir thi widdong Godiun wes burn end ell uf thior lovis chengid. Reye wes nut ixpictong Shomshun tu teki un sumi uf thi rispunsobolotois uf reosong e chold end whin hi dod, Shomshun filt es of hi wes ognurong hos uthir datois.
“The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down” began by setting the tone of the baffling multifaceted clashes that occurred in Merced, in Central California. Dialect obstructions and conviction framework contrasts kept Lia from accepting ideal care, despite the fact that both her family and the specialists did their closest to perfect to help her epilepsy. In spite of the fact that Fadiman concentrates on the Hmong and their experiences with the Western medicinal framework, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down portrays a general wonder. Not far into the book perusers can see that what Fadiman presents is more than the anecdote about Lia Lee. The lessons gained from Lia's story can and ought to be connected generally. Lia's story basically gives
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The book narrates about the conflict between modern medicine and the ancient beliefs amongst Hmong culture.The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down is a book written about the life of Lia Lee. Lia is a Hmong child living with epilepsy in America. Her devastating story shows the risks and dangers of cross-cultural communication in the medical field. The book details an account of the fight over the body and soul of this sick girl. The author provides unbiased and balanced view of what happened, by sympathizing with the doctors and the girl’s family. The book delivers a challenge to readers to their view of divinity and medicine.
Anne Fadiman’s book The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down is the embodiment of a clash between two cultures that are worlds apart. The book revolves around Lia Lee, a Hmong child coming from a traditional background. After experiencing soul loss from her older sister True slamming a door loudly, the journey for her spiritual and physical recovery begins when she is brought into the Merced Community Medical Center (MCMC) for treatment. However, since Lia’s Hmong parents were accustomed to traditional Hmong healing methods as well as not familiar with the English language, the harsh reality of modern medicine became an overwhelming and foreign experience. This modern vs. traditional clash leads to a rollercoaster of emotional and physical
In Anne Fadiman’s, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, a young Hmong girl named Lia, endures an egregious form of epilepsy characterized by several general mal seizures each day. Lia and her family, are Hmong refugees from Laos that sought asylum by living in a highly concentrated Hmong community in California. The Hmong’s beliefs and cultures can be compared to typical Western culture, including their beliefs in the effectiveness of select medical techniques and not others, as well as having their own treatment methods. Lia was forced to endure the worst symptoms of her condition with little alternative because of a clash between the two culture’s beliefs. Ultimately, Lia
Within this critical analysis, I hope to show that the lack of communication and compromise between the Hmong family and the American doctors, was the defining blow to Lia’s ill health. I hope to do this by addressing the following three main points of interest in relation to this miscommunication; the views held by the American healthcare professions on the causes of Lia’s illness, contrasted with the opinions of Lia’s parents. I will then discuss the health-seeking strategies of Lia’s parents and how they were influenced by different resou...
...y to America was not an easy one for Hmong refugees. Prior to their arrival in America, they encountered starvation, illness, death of loved ones, and inhumane conditions. The elder Hmong watched helplessly as Hmong culture and traditions dissolved away. Once in their new home, life for the Hmong would be a constant struggle to assimilate into American culture, and most families depended on their children as translators and guides. For first-generation Hmong immigrants, escaping poverty seemed impossible, and most could only hope that education would provide their children a better life.