Analysis Of The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down

“The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down,” tells a story about a Hmong child Lia Lee, who suffers her first epileptic seizure at three months of age. Her treatment becomes difficult to go through because of her parents, Nao Kao and Foua, inability to speak English. They cannot speak to the doctors and many problems follow because of it. It started when Lia was three months old when her sister had slammed the front door. Quickly after, “Lia’s eyes rolled up, her arms jerked over her head, and she fainted” (Fadiman 20). Her parents diagnosed her illness as qaug dab peg, "the spirit catches you and you fall down." In the next couple months, Lia had twenty more seizures. Her parents doubted the American medical ways. When her parents did take her into the emergency room, the hospital did not have any interpreters. They did not know how to explain what happened because at the moment when they got to the hospital, Lia
An important theme is cultural understanding. Another is the miscommunication between Hmong immigrants in the US and American doctors. In the first couple chapters, we learn that the Hmong have very different birthing traditions. They believe that people get sick because something had happened to their soul, or because they have come across a dab, or an evil spirit. They have their own medical beliefs and practices which have caused difficulties for the medical staff. “They won’t do something just because somebody more powerful says do it” (71). One important theme in the book was a culture clash. The Hmong like to be left alone, they do not like to be ruled. Most of the power laid on the Western doctors. Lia’s tragedy is an example cultural clash and shows that cultural understanding and cooperation is very important. This book shows that it is important to understand and respect other cultures and their perspective on health and wellness so we can incorporate it in the way we treat those