Reading Guide for The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman
Overall Impressions:
What did you find most interesting in the book? Did anything in the book lead you to try to learn
more? What did you learn that helped to change your understanding of the social world? Was there
anything that surprised you? What? If I asked you, “What’s this book about?” what would you say?
Thought questions:
Do you feel the author was evenhanded in her presentation of Hmong culture and medical culture?
Over the centuries, the Hmong fought against many different peoples who claimed sovereignty over their lands.
What role has this tumultuous history played in the formation of Hmong culture?
What do traditional Hmong consider their most important duties and obligations? What do American doctors
consider their most important duties and obligations?
In her preface, the author says that while she was working on this book, she often asked herself two questions:
"What is a good doctor?" "What is a good parent?" How do you think she might have answered her own questions?
How would you answer them?
How do you feel about the Lees' reluctance to give Lia her medicine as prescribed? Can you understand their
motivation? Do you sympathize with it?
In matters of attitude, what might the average American doctor learn from a Hmong txiv neeb (shaman)? What
might the txiv neeb learn from the doctor?
Neil Ernst says, "I felt it was important for these Hmongs to understand that there were certain elements of medicine that we understood better than they did and that there were certain rules they had to follow with t
Questions are from: http://www.spiritcatchesyou.com/index.htm
Sample Solution