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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
This 7 page paper discusses the book “The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down” by Anne Fadiman, in which she explores a culture clash that claims an innocent victim, a little girl named Lia Lee. This paper describes the book briefly and then discusses several points about it. Bibliography lists 2 sources.
Page Count:
7 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_HVsprcth.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
Lia Lee. This paper describes the book briefly and then discusses several points about it. Discussion Brief summary: The book, published in 1998, tells of Lia Lee, a 3-month old
Hmong child who was brought to the Merced, California county hospitals ER with seizures (Fadiman, 1998). The Lees didnt speak English and there was no one in the hospital who
spoke Hmong (the Lees are refugees from the Laotian hill country) and neither the parents nor the doctors could make themselves understood to the other (Fadiman, 1998). Lia was treated
to the best of Western medicines ability and sent home; her parents brought her back, still convulsing, and only then were the doctors able to diagnose her as an epileptic
(Fadiman, 1998). They changed her medication 23 times in the next four years, confusing her parents to the point where they didnt want to give Lia the medication (Lee). At
this point, the doctors ordered her put into foster care (Lee). Lia had a massive seizure a few months after returning home; the seizure rendered her brain dead and only
when the doctors believed she was about to die was she finally released to her parents care (Lee). The diagnosis of epilepsy makes sense to Western medicine, but it didnt
make sense to Lias parents; or rather, it wouldnt make sense even if they could find someone to describe it to them in their own language. They believe that Lias
condition is actually caused by her soul trying to leave her body, a condition they call "gaug dab peg," which means "the spirit catches you and you fall down" (Fadiman,
1998). Thus, her Western doctors are trying to help her biological condition while her parents are convinced that her problem is spiritual (Fadiman, 1998). This is a misunderstanding at the
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