The topic of birth is an interesting one and is explicitly found in the book, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. There was a vivid difference between the Hmong traditional practices and the way Lia was born. It is to each and every ones own opinion to think and have a take on the differing birth practices. I find them to be odd, and extremely unorthodox especially in modern times however going back less than a hundred years, talking to my great grandmother, that is the way people gave birth. At home, wherever they were, they would work until the day they gave birth and the had to take the baby out themselves, wash it and cut the cord. I personally just think the times have changed. We are accustomed to sterility, to cleanliness, to all these wonderful things but don’t realize that people back then lived just as healthy if not healthier then now. It is normal, to give birth like that, and I will not deny that it is much safer and that some cases would not be …show more content…
She was born in a hospital at MCMC in California. The placenta from the child was destroyed and properly disposed because medical professionals were oftenly scared, that what would happen with the placenta would not be good. Some people said they ate them and this could only cause the spread of disease which is certainly not needed. After a long wait her man Birth was given on a table, with sterile utensils with all her family members by her side, the baby was born healthy and was taken to the nursery with all the other children. She was given vitamins and drips of silvernitrate in her eyes and washed with soap and water. Lias birthday was recorded concrete unlike the Hmong practices where the only thing recorded was the season. After birth she ate normally like all people and drank ice cold water which was fround upon in hmong practices for it was believed to clog up the wound. We see that lias birth most vividly portrayed a modern birth
Born on August 13, 1860 , she had 6 brothers and sisters. Her parents names are Susan and Jacob Moses . She was a self-taught sharpshooter. She was from a poor family so she went to go work at an infirmary (which is an orphanage) and that is where she went to school and learned how to sew.
“The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down” by Anna Fadiman tells the story of Lia Lee, a Hmong child with epilepsy, whose life could have been different if only her family was caught up in western medicine. This book reveals the tragic struggles between a doctor and patient because of lack of communication. When Lia was around three months old, her older sister Yer accidentally slammed a door and Lia had suddenly fallen into the floor. This is the first recorded time that Lia was experiencing an epileptic shock.
Anne Fadiman’s book, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, explicitly illustrates the cultural divide between a Hmong family, the Lees, and the physicians treating their daughter, Lia Lee, at the Merced Community Medical Center. Lia first begins to experience seizures when she is about three months old. This is initially when the conflict arises between the physicians and the Lees. In contrast to Lia’s Western medicine diagnosis of epilepsy, her parents interpret epilepsy, or quag deb peg in the Hmong language, as both a serious and dangerous disease and a sign of distinction, indicating that she could potentially become a shaman (Fadiman 20-21). On the other hand, the physicians are continuously trying to prevent and treat Lia’s seizures,
The “Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down” by Anne Fadiman is the story of a refugee family from Laos in the United States. The story develops over the tragic case of one of the family’s daughters named Lia, who suffers from epilepsy. The book describes the Hmong’ beliefs and medical Western practices in medicine and how it influences Lia’s life. In addition, the book relates the barriers of becoming part of a new culture, the Western perspective in medicine, and the misunderstanding between the doctors and the Hmong due to the collision of the cultures and the differences of knowledge.
The United States can be easily defined as one of the world’s biggest power house, with technological and medical advances like no other. However, America is anything but perfect, as demonstrated in The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, a tragic journey written by Anne Fadiman about Lia Lee, an epileptic girl who unfortunately surrenders to brain-death due to cultural dissimilarities and misunderstandings. After the getaway from the communist forces in Laos, the Hmong, including the Lees, became United States refugees. Although the Hmong escaped the dangers of their homeland, an overwhelming task of adapting to the American society consumes them. Fadiman presents the assimilation as an essential yet difficult part of a Hmong refugee through
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down is a story about Anne Fadiman’s anthropological research on a Hmong family. The particular family she studies is the Lees, who traveled from Laos and settled in Merced, CA. The family was immediately in ultimate culture shock in their new surroundings. The mother, who had delivered all of her babies alone, had her first experience delivering a baby in a hospital.
She was sentenced to death after they beat and tortured her with breaking her feet and legs. Being tortured is not easy, but she was driven and did what she had to do to get the children’s lives changed, but there were different routes to her
Have you ever read The Angel of Death? If not, save yourself some time and find a new book to read. The Angel of Death, written by Alane Ferguson, is a forensic mystery where the main character’s-Cameryn’s-former teacher was suspiciously killed in his home. Cameryn must find and solve the clues that trace back to the murderer of Brad Oakes. The Angel of Death has its ups and many downs, but there were still some good things, bad things, there some relatable parts, and I will give recommendations on if others should read this book.
At her nest foster home her foster father,used her for oral sex in trade for LSD and cocaine. After this incident she moved in with her great aunt in Los Angeles. During her stay she joined a gang at the age of 12. She almost died when he was shot in the back at the age of 16. After that she made the decision to leave the gang.
She was born to an extremely religious family in Domremy, France. She did not go to school but was taught to be extremely devout. Joan was especially good at spinning, an activity that was quite common in the mid 15th century, and is said to have been a fast runner. She loved going to church and
In The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, Anne Fadiman made the point that a person's life can be ruined due to "cross cultural misunderstandings. " The text points out many issues between the patients and the doctors. It sheds light on many of the problems that the refugees faced after coming to America due to cultural displacement. From my understanding, the texts of Dettwyler and Fadiman show how medical limitations effects the health of the people whether they are in a foreign country or their own country and also the barriers they face due to lack of resources and knowledge.
People come to the assumption that god doesn 't exist after a tragic accident or naturaldisaster. In the book Night by Elie Wiesel, Loss of faith is shown through questions whether ornot to believe in God during a disaster, giving up on God, and people 's judgement on God 'spower to let people die even though they pray to Him. Elie Wiesel from Night is going through tough times questioning his faith in God for letting innocent people die the same way peopleduring a disaster question their faith in God. To begin, the evidence provided explains whether or not a person should believe in a godduring a natural disaster. The first piece of evidence from the book night has Elie questioning ifhe should even bless God.
a. Expected for Halloween, baby Catharine arrived on the Fourth of July, 16 weeks earlier than what was expected. Weighing in at 1 pound 10 ounces Catharine’s eyes were still fused shut. Catharine fought for every breath she took in result of her heart defect, bleeding in her brain, jaundice, and a heart murmur. Catharine spent 113
Throughout my childhood, my parents taught me values of empathy, resilience and optimism in the face of adversity. These characteristics allowed me to become the tenacious individual that I am today. Being the inquisitive individual I am, I always wondered about my family’s heritage; the journey of how we established ourselves in this country. Yet I never imagined how much of a nightmare it was immigrating to the United States until my mother told the story. My mother immigrated to the United States facing a harrowing journey, one that placed her at the mercy of the environment and the intersection of many harsh opinions.
LOSS, GRIEF AND HEALING As human beings, we suffer losses of many kinds and sizes in our life time. While some of these losses are small and do not hurt much, some are big and hurt deeply. Those that are accompanied by pains that are difficult to bear include the loss of a loved one through death or divorce, cheating or unfaithfulness in a trusted relationship or loss of good health when a diagnosis of a terminal illness is made. In all these instances of loss, pain and grief are experienced and an emotional wound is created which needs healing.