Anne Fadiman’s “Under Water” 1. Anne Fadiman narrates the events of “Under Water” in first person. She prepares us by describing the setting and the conditions and intentions of the event. I think Anne wants us to realize that everyone on the trip‚ including the instructors‚ are human. Even though they knew there was no chance of saving Gary‚ or even possibly reaching his unresponsive body‚ they tried their hardest. 3. I think she uses statements such as “Class II was not an unreasonable challenge
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or injury. In the Hmong society‚ people go to a txiv neeb‚ a shaman‚ who is believed to be a “person with a healing spirit” (Fadiman‚ 1997‚ p. 21) to cure their illnesses. A txiv neeb knows that to cure an illness you must treat the soul‚ in addition to the body. This is important to the Hmong because in their society the soul has a great deal of importance. In Anne Fadiman`s The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down‚ the Lees‚ a family of Hmong refugees from Laos‚ are placed in a difficult situation
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1. In her critique of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down‚ Janelle Taylor argues that Anne Fadiman’s portrayal of Hmong culture is problematic. Please explain how Fadiman’s story is problematic. In your discussion‚ be sure to consider: • How is the story set up as a tragedy? That is‚ if both the parents and the doctors are uncompromising in their quest for Lia’s well-being‚ how do they wind up colliding so tragically? • How are Hmong culture and Western medicine used as explanations for
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it becomes apparent that the child will not be healed; but this is not without the doctors realizing the importance of compromise. In this book‚ Anne Fadiman claims‚ “I have come to believe that her [Lia’s] life was ruined not by septic shock or noncompliant parents but by cross-cultural misunderstanding” (Fadiman 262). Before making this claim‚ Fadiman had come to fully understand the Hmong culture. This statement was thus an affirmation that her parents’ primitive treatment to epilepsy was not
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Fall Down‚ by Anne Fadiman‚ Lia Lee is a very sickly child‚ and is now unfortunately a “vegetable.” Much to the hospitals chagrin‚ they in fact are the reason why Lia is in a comatose state. The Lee’s argued with the doctors throughout Lia’s entire 4 years of medical strife with epilepsy about the medication and the way they were treating Lia. Fadiman juxtaposes the differences of the Hmong way of healing people: spiritually‚ and the American way: medicinally. In chapter 18‚ Fadiman titles the
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Cindy Copeland The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down Chapter 1 “Foua never thought to ask‚ since she speaks no English‚ and when she delivered Lia‚ no one present spoke Hmong.” (pg 6) I cannot imagine being somewhere where no one spoke the same language – let along receiving medical care and/or delivering a baby without anyone speaking the same language. That must have been not only a scary experience‚ but a lonely one too. To have no one there and no one there that spoke my language
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Lia Lee was the first of her siblings to be born in not only the United States‚ but also was the first to be born in a hospital. Her parents‚ Nao Kao and Foua‚ were Hmong immigrants who fled to the United States. This story is a journey of the family’s struggle‚ with their special daughter Lia‚ and also the doctors who played an important role in their lives. The biggest struggle‚ however‚ was the conflicting views and beliefs of these two parties. To understand this conflict the reader must first
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eighteen‚ I wanted to hurry through life as fast as I could.” “There are six difficulties‚ and Class II was not an unreasonable challenge for novice paddlers.” Establishing a Focus: From the beginning Anne Fadiman builds suspense all the way until‚ she establishes the focus of the essay. Fadiman starts off from the start talking about the kid’s story‚ and decided to put the thesis at the end of the essay. This technique of putting the thesis gives the reader a chance to think of the thesis in
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The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman 1st chapter reflections: This chapter which introduced me to Lia’s family was interesting. I was shocked to read that in her mother’s country of Laos‚ Lia would have been born by her mother squatting on the floor! They also used special created remedies to solve health issues without relying on hospitals or clinics. It was also interesting to read how important the Hmong people believed in sprits and how their life decisions where decided
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"The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down" the book by Anne Fadiman is an interesting book that contains different situations where different cultures and traditions clashes as a result of different barriers. In this brief work I tried to shed light on some of these barriers that could exist in our clinical practice and how these barriers could be understood in different cultures. On the other hand‚ there is no doubt that cultural differences play an important role in problems analysis as well as
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