Reflection Paper 1

Reflection Paper

Reflection Paper 2

Overall Impression of Book:
I feel that Anne Fadiman narrated the story of Lia Lee’s and her family’s life in intimate and tragic detail. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down is a poignant depiction of the struggle between loving parents, hard-working medical professionals, and a very precious child caught in the middle of a tug-of-war. Ms. Fadiman very distinctly illustrates how the collision of two cultures indirectly led to the demise of a little seven- year old girl.

I did not expect the story to end with Lia Lee in a persistent vegetative state. I was very excited when I first started the book, but I soon became rather …show more content…

Few Hmong remained, returning to their villages under the new regime. Most of the Hmong people fled from Laos attempting a treacherous exodus across the Mekong River into Thailand. Few Hmong made it across, only to be sent to United Nations refugee camps with other Indo-Chinese refugees, such as; Laos, Vietnamese, and Cambodians. The refugees remained there until they were either sent back to their own country and repatriated, or after 1977 when Washington officially acknowledged the valor of Hmong soldiers who fought alongside our soldiers in “the Secret War” during the Vietnam War. These Hmong men were part of a special Guerilla unit and a counter attack unit. Their roles were to block the Ho Chi Minh Trail,

Reflection Paper 4

thereby preventing the movement of supplies from the north to the south and to rescue downed American pilots from the jungles.
Washington officially acknowledged the valor of the Hmong soldiers who fought alongside out American soldiers.

In 1980 the Lee’s arrive in the United States as did many Hmong families. Most of these individuals were clustered in cities in California, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. These Hmong came to America for the same reason they left China back in the nineteenth century; because they did not want to assimilate themselves. If their Hmong culture had been safe in Laos they would have chose to stay there instead. They preferred to be left