Exploring Life as a Refugee

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In the three books, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Culture by Anne Fadiman, Dreaming in Cuban by Christina Garcia, and The House at Sugar Beach In Search of a Lost African Childhood by Helene Cooper, each have a war refugee who lives a life full of tragedies. What is a war refugee you ask? War refugee is someone who has left their own country due to a dangerous event that is happening in their country. These people do not want to leave their country because they are leaving all their memories behind, but they have no choice since it is for their own good. Leaving a country and moving to another has its drawbacks. People need to learn a different culture and get use to their surroundings. As for the Lees, they fled their country because of the communist arriving to Laos. Lourdes moves to the United States because of the Cuba revolution in Cuba. Lastly, Helene Cooper moves to United States because the Country people were forcing Congo people out of their country. War refugees experience cultural differences, family issues, and racism in a whole new environment. First, in the book, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Culture by Anne Fadiman, the Lee family has trouble living in America due to the cultural difference between them and the doctors. Lee’s family came from Laos because Communist started take over their country in 1975. As the Lee’s were living in the United States, they have a daughter name Lia, who apparently has health problems. As time went on, both the doctors and the Lee family have conflicts. Both sides wanted to save Lia their own way. The American doctors even went as far a... ... middle of paper ... ...ut. If they didn’t leave, then something horrible might have happen to them. Instead of “To be or not to be” by William Shakespeare, war refugee need to ask themselves, to live or not to live. If one is a war refugee and living in America today, try to bypass all these challenges and one’s life in America wouldn’t be as bad as these 3 characters. Being a war refugee means starting a new life. Think about all the great things this can benefit one instead of the all consequences. Works Cited Anne, Fadiman. The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, And The Collision Of Two Cultures. New York: Noonday Press, 1997. Print. Cooper, Helene. The House at Sugar Beach In Search of a Lost African Childhood. New York: Simon & Schuster, Inc, 2008. Print. Garcia, Christina. Dreaming in Cuba. New York: Ballantine Book, 1992. Print.

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