Traditional Hmong Culture

Anne Fadiman’s book The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down is the embodiment of a clash between two cultures that are worlds apart. The book revolves around Lia Lee, a Hmong child coming from a traditional background. After experiencing soul loss from her older sister True slamming a door loudly, the journey for her spiritual and physical recovery begins when she is brought into the Merced Community Medical Center (MCMC) for treatment. However, since Lia’s Hmong parents were accustomed to traditional Hmong healing methods as well as not familiar with the English language, the harsh reality of modern medicine became an overwhelming and foreign experience. This modern vs. traditional clash leads to a rollercoaster of emotional and physical

During her multiple visits to the hospital, different kinds of medicine would be prescribed to treat her seizures. However, the medicines were always prescribed and instructed in English instead of the traditional Hmong language. Lia’s parents Nao Kao and Foua did not speak or read English, therefore they did not understand the instructions for dosage, as well as the need for follow up appointments (Page 26). In one instance, when Lia was four and a half, she was prescribed a plethora of drugs “Tylenol, ampicillin, amoxicillin, Dilanatin, Ceclor, Tegetrol, Depakene..etc”, the problem with this was not only the language in which the drugs were prescribed in, the dosages were varied and constantly changed as well (Page 46). Furthermore, not only did some drugs required to be given a specific time, some drugs were required to be administered if Lia had a temperature (thus requiring a thermometer reading). This form of treatment, in which the doctors at MCMC assumed would be followed by Lia’s parents backfired because neither of the parents understood what the labels said, nor could they use basic medical instruments such as a thermometer, medicine dropper or measuring spoon (Page 47). The problem with not understanding how to administer the medication lead Dr. Peggy to assume that medication administration was not being followed due to cultural barriers as well as comprehension of defects of intelligence (not understanding the labels etc). The language barrier needed to be lowered to increase the effectiveness of the medication that was being prescribed, as well as improve the parent-doctor