The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down Essay

What do you think of traditional Hmong birth practices (pp. 3-5)? Compare them to the techniques used when Lia was born (p. 7). How do Hmong and American birth practices differ?

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down (1997) is an ethnography written by Anne Faidman. It tells the story of Lia Lee, a Hmong girl with severe epilepsy, and her family’s journey with managing the condition and the cultural barriers that posed great challenges in Lia’s care. Lia was diagnosed with epilepsy at age 1. It was her family’s opinion that the condition was a spiritual gift. Lia’s parents, Nao Kao and Foua, were wary of the American medical system, preferring to treat Lia in the Hmong way. Under the more spiritually focused care of her parents, Lia continued to have severe seizures; at the age of 4 ½, she slipped into a coma that would last the rest of her life. This book serves as a testament to the importance of cultural competency

1. The client system, in this case the Lee family, defines Lia’s seizures as both a spiritual and physical ailment. According to Fadiman (1997), “…the noise of the door had been so profoundly frightening that her soul had fled her body and become lost. They recognized the resulting symptoms as qaug dab peg, which means ‘the spirit catches you and you fall down’”(p.20). To the Lee family, Lia’s condition was as revered as it was frightening. While a person with qaug dab peg was traditionally held in high esteem in the Hmong culture, it was also terrifying enough that the Lee’s rushed Lia to the emergency room more than once in the first few months

One main focus in this story is heritage and the different value is holds for people. On one hand Dee admires her culture and embraces it too its full extent. She changes her name from “Dee Johnson to “Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo” (Cowart). She sees

Dee represents envy, awe, and outright irritation from her relatives. Personally, Dee is looking for a stronger sense of self and personal meaning. Her judgmental nature affects both Mama and Maggie, and their desire for an inkling of Dee’s approval runs deep within them— appearing even in Mama’s daydreams in the form of a televised program. Sadly, Dee doesn’t to care about winning the approval of Mama and even less so, that of Maggie. Composed, fierce, and brimming with

Dee, most of the time, neglected to give the mother the attention that she deserved. She was not a big family person, you could say. While Dee is very accomplished and very bright, she lacked on her interpersonal

Dee enjoyed and reveled in her intellectual superiority to her family and her community. Upon her arrival, Dee begins taking pictures of her Mama and her sister but takes special care to include the house in the background. She does not take pictures as cherished memories of a trip home, but rather as documentation that she has visited a spectacle of the past. Dee has forsaken her birth name for a new name: Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo. This new name epitomizes her separation from her family and heritage and instead embraces what Dee sees as the novel charm of African American culture. Dee asks to take home hand made items from her home to use as decoration and displays from the past. She requests the “churn top as a centerpiece for the alcove table” and she would come up with “something artistic to do with the dasher” (Walker, 1989). Grandma Dee’s quilts were her most coveted item. She wanted to hang them in her home as the ultimate exhibit of her home for her friends to gawk at and stare, not in appreciation, but in condescending infatuation of her

What could have been a liberating experience for Dee, her mother, and sister, turns into the cause of divisiveness within their family. Dee did not attempt to educate her family out of love, rather, “She washed us in a river of make-believe, burned us with a lot of knowledge we didn’t necessarily need to know. Pressed us to hear with the serious way she read, to shove us away at just the moment, like dimwits, we seemed about to

Dee misplaces the significance of her true heritage in her desire for what she believes is her racial heritage. “I did something I had never done before: hugged Maggie to me, then dragged her on into the room, snatched the quilts out of Miss Wangero’s hands and dumped them into Maggie’s lap.” (499) Mama did the right thing she stood up to Dee and her selfish, unappreciative ways, and gave the quilts to Maggie someone who knows and lived her heritage and would appreciate them more. The way Mama treated each girl was a reflection on how she raised them; besides it’s not good to

The `new' Dee that arrives at the doorstep presents many conflicts for Momma. She seems unsure what to make of her, as Dee has changed in many ways, including her name and her manner of dress. It appears that Dee has decided to embrace her African heritage and adopt the mannerisms of that cultural. " `What happened to Dee?' I wanted to know. `She's dead' Wangero said. `I could not bear it any longer, being named after the people who oppress me.' " Suddenly what Dee had loathed is now worthy of her attention. Dee takes many pictures of the family, making sure the house is in every one. This confuses momma, since Dee had once told her family that; "no matter where we "choose" to live, she will manage to come see us. But she will never bring her friends." An old butter churn and dasher become coveted items, not for

Upon her arrival, Dee has changed in many different ways. Not only has her appearance changed, but she informs them that she has changed her name to Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo stating that Dee was a name representative of people who oppressed her. Mama agreed she would call her whatever she wants to be called even though she had given her the name Dee. She named her Dee after her Aunt and several relatives before. During the visit, Dee brought a male companion with her. Upon meeting her companion, he kept saying, “Asalamalakim”. At his request, she calls him Hakim-a-barber. Mama is not sure if the two are married and does not ask. During the visit, Dee took many pictures of her Mama and sister Maggie, but always wants to make sure to the home is included in the background. This shows where she came from and what she feels that she has overcome. As they sat down for dinner, Dee takes notice of things around the home that she remembers and likes. She notices a butter churn that she remembers was carved by her Uncle Buddy. She also notices a dasher and asks Mama if she can have them and take them home to her place. The pieces are objects from her past, but Dee is really more concerned with how they are going to fit in her place as display pieces. Eventually, Dee turns her focus on a trunk at the end of Mama’s bed and that is when she discovers the quilts and tells Mama that she wants

The theme of family is explored through the conflicted relationships between the narrator, Mama Johnson, and her two daughters, Maggie and Dee. Walker describes

Dee an insensitive, selfish and arrogant, dissatisfied with her life searching for a stronger sense of purpose was given the opportunity to get an educating. Dee return to visit her family believing she is a new person embracing her heritage changed her name to Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo for Dee was the name her oppressors gave her. Dee returns a different person a liberated women feeling superior to her family and looking down on her mother and her sister and the place where she was raised. Dee misunderstands of the meaning of heritage for something that happened a long time ago instead of her current family life. For example Dee sees the quilts that her mother her mother’s sister and even her great grandmother sown like a piece of history

When it comes to valuing culture and family treasues, Dee and Maggie have different ideas on how each should be carried out. While Dee was away at school, she decided that she wanted to embrace her roots in a way she thought was innovative, which happened to actually, be inappropriate. She changed her name from to "Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo", thinking that would bring her closer to her African-American culture. Attempting to further dive into her heritage, during the family dinner, Dee began to point out family heirlooms she wanted but didn't know any precise back story to each piece. For example, at the table Dee seemed excited that the mother still used the

There is four main character in the story, I, Maggie, Dee, or Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo, who is called Wangero in the last part of the story and her boyfriend, Aslamalakim. The story teller is “I”, Maggie and Dee’s mother. I am a hard-working woman, who is as strong as a man. Due to “I” had had little education, she is not a literate woman, but it does mean that she is bad at talking or convincing others. Her old house had been destroy by a fire accident, and they are living in a poor house. Maggie and Dee are her daughters. Maggie is uglier than Dee, so she are somehow negative. Dee have a nice body and better-looking. She brought her boyfriend to meet her mother and her sister, but he was not welcome by her sister. Dee wanted to take something