The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down

After reading Anne Fadiman's The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down it has made me realize the horror that this Hmong family went through. The book takes place in the 80's and it takes us through the Lee's experience with the American Medical field. Their youngest child Lia began to have seizures and in Hmong culture they call it The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, but to medical professionals they know it as epilepsy. Through out the book it takes you through all of the experiences of this Hmong family. It leads us through the language barriers that both the Lee's and doctors, nurses, child services, all experienced. Both cultures became very irritated with one another because they were not familiar with one anothers cultural beliefs.

Doctors had prescribed different kinds of medication for Lia and the Lee's had a very difficult time understand what the medication was for and how much and when they were suppose to give the medication. Also, when doctors tell the Hmong culture to do something or take something, they take it as just a suggestion not something necessary.

Doctors didn't ask the Hmong that had come through the Emergency room door in Merced, California how they treated themselves (Fadiman, 112).

I felt as though there was a lot of stereotyping of the Hmong culture in this book. The doctors were doing almost everything they could but still I felt as though they didn't want to get to know the Lees and to understand how they were trying to heal Lia. The doctors felt that it was a good idea to have Lia taken away from her parents because they thought that there was child endangerment going on. When really it was because the Lee's didn't understand what they were suppose to give Lia and when they were suppose to give her her medication.

A big issue in this book had to do with language barriers and how they affect different cultures.