The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down

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The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down 1. Discuss your overall impression of the book. In the book, “The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down”, a Hmong family’s struggles to maintain its tradition and culture, clashes with the American Health care system when one of their daughter’s, Lia Lee, fell very ill. The book presented to the reader the different ways an illness is perceived and treated in the Hmong culture and in the process unearthed the American Health care system’s inability to associate the disease process to the person as a whole. Whilst there was constant tug of war between the Hmong family and the American doctors with regards to Lia Lee’s treatment plan, both parties interest was only to get the afflicted the best care possible and would want her to survive. In the end, whilst tragic, the story opens the reader’s eyes to how other cultures perceive health and allows its reader to explore his own. It also presented the reader how to bridge the gap between the American Health care system and other cultures by cultural competency. Over all, the story is very insightful and helped open the doors for a more culturally competent care in the Western Health care system. 2. Identify and discuss three major themes in the book. 2.1 Etic and Emic perspectives The Lee’s believe that their daughter suffered from what is called, “quag dab peg”, which translates to “the spirit catches you and you fall down”, also known as epilepsy when translated to English. In the Hmong culture, people who suffer from the illness often become shamans and therefore, it is believed that the illness is sacred. It enables the afflicted to transcend between the supernatural world and what cannot be perceived by other people, as evidenced by the seizure activity (Fadiman, 2012). From the Lee’s perspective, their daughter’s illness is a gift and should be dealt with
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