Spirit Reflection Essay

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The Spirit Catches You and You Fall down Spirit Reflection My overall reaction to the book was that it was very informative. It put me in a world that I didn’t know existed. Yes, I know that there are many immigrants in the United States and most of whom don’t speak English; but to hear an actual story was astounding. The Lees had come to the United States for the reason that many foreign people do and that was to have a better life than that of the one they had in Laos. It was amazing how Anne Fadiman told their story with such detail. She actually took the time to trace the struggles of the people in Hmong community. The Hmong people have suffered all over the place, from China to the United States. As I read the book I became so angry and wanted to be mad at someone because it took all those years to finally help that poor family. I really wanted to just jump in the book and shake the characters and tell them what in hindsight they were missing. It really frustrated me to read that there weren’t any Hmong translators in a state that was home to many Hmong people. Nonetheless, it was a very hard and good books to read because many parts made me cry while other parts gave me hope for baby Lia. The major challenges of the healthcare providers were the clash about money and community services choked by welfare costs. The biggest problem of them all was the beliefs of the medical system and those of the Hmong people. The doctors were concerned with saving lives while the Hmong people were trying to save souls. Another challenge was definitely the language barrier. In the state of California where the Lees lived at least 1 out of 5 people were Hmong (pg.24), so why wasn’t there anyone to help besides the janitor or cousins who spoke broken English who were sometimes available. The hospital had no money due to the fact that many people
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