In this essay, the collision of different cultures between the Hmong community and the Western European-adapted American culture will be examined as well as a few varieties in the American culture itself that spark up interest, both negatively and positively. Issues behind intolerability due to differences in language or accent and issues regarding variations in traditions between groups of individuals will be thoroughly investigated. The novel titled The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman encompasses the idea of a “collision of two cultures” through barriers due to both verbal and nonverbal communication, differences in medical treatments, and the natural human’s undesirability to encompass change.
The differences between the Hmong community and the European- adapted American way of living provide a “collision” due to the stubbornness from both sides and the lack of interest in changing their ways. This stubbornness and lack of learning or trying anything different that what one is accustomed to have spanned over a variety of issues. including the medical field as displayed in this novel. Debatably, the barrier that causes the most impact between two cultures is the differences in both verbal and nonverbal communication. In The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, the differences in communication between the American doctors and the Hmong community cause many problems in the medical field. Fadiman states in Lia’s case that the American doctors told the Lee family the proper method and times to give Lia her medication; however, the language barrier was not clear, and it took many different attempts to explain to them exactly how to do this.
Nonverbal communication does not have as high of a barrier as verbal communication. While many of the body movements of Nao Kao and Foua seem to remain between the two individuals themselves, some of the nonverbal communication is observed at medical visits in order to obtain information about whether they understand how to give Lia her medication. At first, the nonverbal communication was not clear as Foua told the doctors that she had given Lia the correct amount of prescription without showing any body movement, and the blood tests administered had shown no change or many traces of the medication in her blood. After multiple attempts, nurses eventually were assigned to meet with the Lee family at their home and discuss Lia’s medications and progress. The nonverbal communication was more easily observed and evaluated in their home setting, and it was quickly made obvious that the Lee family was not comfortable with giving their daughter these medications.
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Fadiman states that a note from one of the nurses read, “Mother still seems very unhappy with medical staff making decisions for daughter. Interpreter states mother is unhappy and Public Health nurse observed same by mothers tone of voice & body movements”. This connects a bridge between the nonverbal and verbal communication and correctly tells the doctors that even if the Lee family understands how to give the prescriptions to their daughter, they may still not be giving Lia the medicine as they are upset at the medical traditions of the Western European-adapted Americans. There is a huge variation between traditions of cultures throughout the world. In Anne Fadiman’s The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, the main tradition that shows variation is medical treatment. Nao Kao and Foua have a daughter named Lia who has been diagnosed with the medical condition of epilepsy, according to the Western European-adapted American form of medicine.
For the Hmong community, they describe it as quag dab peg, which means ”the spirit catches you and you fall down”. However, the Lee family remained open-minded about the form of Western medicine to a certain degree. Fadiman describes, “Like most Hmong refugees, they had their doubts about the efficacy of Western medical techniques. However, when they were living in the Mae Jarim refugee camp in Thailand, their only surviving son, Cheng, and three of their six surviving daughters, Ge, May, and True, had been seriously ill. Ge died. They took Cheng, May, and True to the camp hospital; Cheng and May recovered rapidly, and True was sent to another, larger hospital, where she eventually recovered as well”. Even while the Lee family tried to implement the use of the Western European- adapted American medicine, they still would use certain methods of their own Hmong culture in an attempt to promote health to their children.
While their son and three of their daughters were sick in Thailand, Nao Kao and Foua moved to another hut because they believed that an old spirit may have been in their previous home and wished bad luck on their family. This combination of methods did not weaken the belief that the Lee family had in their Hmong culture, but it did open their eyes to the possibility of using the Western European-adapted American medical culture in certain circumstances. While it is evident that there is a “collision of two cultures” between the Hmong and the Americans, there can still be collisions in a single culture due to differences in language as well as tradition. The American culture can be defined as a combination or mixture of many other cultures, and due to this. many subcultures exist. For example, there is much variation of language in the United States. Accents are one of the main differences in language, and along with these different accents come a certain stereotype behind them.
Whether it be a Boston accent, Southern accent, or Midwestern accent, they all have their own stereotype. The most common stereotype lies behind Southern accents; it is said that an individual with a Southern accent is uneducated (American Tongues). Stereotypes are created for a number of reasons, but it is mainly due to others’ inability to handle change well. While language is seen to be as one of the largest collisions among subcultures, tradition follows at a close second. As depicted in the video, swallowing salamanders does not appear to be accepted by all (Salamanders: A Night in the Phi Delt House). This tradition is held annually in the fraternity house, and its members do not tend to find this abnormality.
They throw a party celebrating the fraternity, and the swallowing of salamanders is a tradition at this yearly celebration. Many individuals have attempted to create a contest as to who can swallow the most. While this tradition is loved by a number of the population at the university, many are appalled by it; therefore, it has to be approved by the administration in order to continue each year (Salamanders: A Night in the Phi Delt House). Overall, the collision between subcultures as well as the “collision of two cultures” is due to humans’ intolerance to change. Whether this be due to fear or anger, humans seem to have an extremely hard time accepting anything that they are not accustomed to.
This creates the popular theme of the “collision of two cultures”. The novel titled The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman encompasses the idea of a “collision of two cultures” through barriers due to both verbal and nonverbal communication, differences in medical treatments, and the natural human’s undesirability to encompass change. If humans opened their mindset and tried to adapt to change, there would not be as much hostility or disproval to the way others live their lives.
