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

In a healthcare setting you will see different cultures that will come and go. It is very important to know how to deal with each culture so that you can help them while still making sure they are comfortable. Native Americans have many different characteristics because of the different tribes from all over the world. Healthcare providers should be familiar with them so they know how to distinguish them if needed. While knowing their characteristics they should also know how to interact with Native Americans as well since their culture is a lot different than ours, we want to make sure that we don’t disrespect them.

Lia’s parents spoke the Hmong language, which was a barrier during the treatment of Lia Lee. During the hospital stay at Merced County Medical Center, the doctors tried to explain the procedure of her treatment and provided the medications to cure Lia’s epilepsy. But since Lia’s parents had language barrier, the doctors and Lia’s parents were confused on the medications of what is supposed to be given for the betterment of Lia Lee. They even tried to send a nurse to their home to help with the medication regime. They soon realized that her parents did not want to give the medications to Lia.

Many of the Hmong (including the Lee family) immigrated from their Thai refugee camp to America in the late seventies. The book is mainly about the Hmong culture and healing beliefs colliding with “modern” American medicine. The Lees want to heal Lia spiritually with a Txiv neeb (spiritual healer), and don’t really want to use and medicine provided by their doctors. At the beginning of the book Fadiman explains why the Hmong prefer a Txiv neeb over a doctor. She writes, “Txiv neebs were polite and never needed to ask questions; doctors asked many rude and intimate questions...

“The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down” by Anna Fadiman tells the story of Lia Lee, a Hmong child with epilepsy, whose life could have been different if only her family was caught up in western medicine. This book reveals the tragic struggles between a doctor and patient because of lack of communication. When Lia was around three months old, her older sister Yer accidentally slammed a door and Lia had suddenly fallen into the floor. This is the first recorded time that Lia was experiencing an epileptic shock.

It wasn’t until a couple of seizures later that the hospital understood that that the baby was suffering from seizures. Lia was to begin a strict regime of medication which was to limit the number of seizures. Because the Lee’s did not fully understand the medication and saw the epileptic seizures as part of the divine, the Lee’s did not stick to the medication as prescribed. What follows are a series of seizures, hospitalizations,

“Their seizures are thought to be evidence that they have the power to perceive things other people cannot see, as well as facilitating their entry into trances, a prerequisite for their journeys into the realm of the unseen” (Fadiman 21). Known as the quag dab peg ‘when you fall the spirit catches you’ are said to be the “most treasured possessions a person can have” (Fadiman 22). Which was considered to be a calling to become a host of a healing spirit. The author kept up to date through Lee’s tragic experience with translation complications, inequality and culture shock. Little did she know that she would be witnessing a “collision” as one doctor called it.

In the book Panic, Lauren Oliver creates the character Heather Nill whose determination and bravery helps illustrate her strength and faith in herself. Heather and her other friends participate in the competition of their lifetime for the chance to win a large cash prize. Panic is the legendary game that occurs yearly in the small town of Carp, NY. Any graduating seniors are welcome to compete in the dangerous games to win the prize. Those who want to participate in panic must jump of a cliff the day after graduation, then the more challenging games begin.

According to Henrietta, physicians at the Hopkins during the 1950s and early 1960s claimed to offer to treat African American patients but in contrary, they did so in a manner that showed segregation especially from the fellow white families. Another strategy to ensure that African Americans did not receive treatment in medical institutions is that there were education and language barrier. According to Skloot, these factors kept the backs away from these institutions unless they thought they had no choice, pg. 16.

Sanchez Pg.1 Perfection does not exist within the finding of a husband. Woman may unintentionally encounter several marriages and in the end it may seem like everything happens for a reason. Experiencing a horizon would be a blessing to protagonist Janie Mae Crawford in Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God. She is an African American woman who deals with hardships while being married to her three husbands Logan Killicks, Joe Starks, and Tea Cake, each having their own effect on Janie.

North Dakota Road Trip The passage from The Horizontal World by Debra Marquart’s 2006 memoir is all about growing up in North Dakota and knowing the land around it. She is describing one of her memories when she was growing up in North Dakota. She relates to TV news anchors and really anyone who may know some of the geography of North Dakota such as the residents. Talks very highly of North Dakota’s geography and how great it is to live and grow up there, so she is trying to tell everyone why they should live there.

Starting in the 1730s, a movement formally known as the Great Awakening was born. This marked the beginning of a religious and spiritual revival that was a direct response to Enlightenment ideals which highlighted logic instead of spirituality. A leader in this movement was Jonathan Edwards; a theologian that delivered one of the most influential sermons of its time; a sermon titled Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God. In this sermon, Edwards employed the use of cherry picking from a credible source and the use of a threatening tone to convey his message - that one would be saved from the wrathful judgment of God if they obediently followed the Bible and its teachings.

Family and group solidarity are important to the Hmong, yet they were forced to split apart during their journey to America. The Hmong also partook in ceremonies, dances, and sacrifices that were important to them and their religion, however, the doctors and other people were wary of these practices and didn’t condone them, especially when it came to patients such as Lia Lee. Lee’s doctors were constantly giving her shots, medicine, and feeding her through tubes. Her parents didn’t approve of this at all and thought that the medicines they were giving her was what was killing her.

Forgiveness is the theme of the Glass Castle because although Jeannette Walls was neglected, betrayed, and even belittled by her parents she doesn’t hold any negative feelings towards them. She exemplifies the theme of forgiveness by never blaming her parents for neglecting them, when her mother and father both squander her money on themselves, or when her parents allowed Erma to treat them as horribly as she did. Jeannette knows who her parents are, accepts and forgives, to the point that she can have a Thanksgiving dinner with Lori, Brian, and Mom reminiscing about the days of past.

The different ways one can look at Paja’s illness is by acknowledging the Hmong culture and by looking at the perspective of the biomedical world.

Over the progression of the book the view points and relationships between the Lees and the doctors develops slightly. The medical staff was not prepared with a translator or a cultural understanding of the Hmong and how their beliefs would not match up with their medical practices. “Not only do the Hmong fail resoundingly to improve the payer mix- more than eighty percent are on Medi-Cal- but they have proved even more costly than other indigent patients, because they generally require more time and attention, and because there are so many of them that MCMC has to hire bilingual staff members to mediate between patients and providers” (Fadiman 25). This theme in the story was immensely eye opening for all of the cultural gaps that exist throughout the United States. The solution to this problem is for both sides standing on opposite sides of the gap to take the time to bridge the gap together.