Have you ever thought about how difficult it might be to go into a different country knowing absolutely nothing, not even language, and something horrific happened to you or anyone in your family? Don’t you think you would feel so powerless, so helpless, so clueless? This happens commonly and it has never had any attention brought to it, at least not until 1998. Anne Fadiman wrote a book entitled, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. This demonstrated a collision of two complete opposite cultures, but they both have the same goal to help the child get better. Throughout this book many individuals were introduced both from the Hmong culture and then individuals from America. While reading the book two dynamic duos stood out to me, one
Lucas Hahn Mr. Rodriguez Academic Lit. 15 June, 2023 The Cellar Analysis Throughout Lucas Hahn's short story The Cellar, the author explores the limits of human endurance both mentally and physically. The author portrays the mental limits of humans when we look at the character Ryan. Ryan at the beginning of the story was just a normal teenager, but at the end of the book he turned into a murderer.
The author of this book is called Anne Fadiman. It is based on a story of a Hmong child known as Lia Lee who suffered from epilepsy. The demise of this condition shows the harm that can be contributed by absence of cross-cultural communication especially in the area of medicine. At the age of three months, the elder sister to Lia known as Yer banged a door which caused Lia to have the first seizure.
‘The spirit catches you and you fall down’ was published in 2012 by essayist and reporter Anne Fadiman. This introductory book review analyzes the way in which different cultures perceive illnesses and diseases. It focuses on the story of the Lees a Hmong family, who moved to the United States and experiences difficulties with language, culture and biomedicine method of healing, which contradict to Hmong’s way of healing. The chapters describe the differences between the ways childbirth is conducted in Hmong society compared to the western society. As well as the struggle the Lees family has with the cultural differences in diagnoses and treatment of their ill daughter.
"Crossing the Swamp," a poem by Mary Oliver, confesses a struggle through "pathless, seamless, peerless mud" to a triumphant solitary victory in a "breathing palace of leaves. " Oliver's affair with the "black, slack earthsoup" is demonstrated as she faces her long coming combat against herself. Throughout this free verse poem, the wild spirit of the author is sensed in this flexible writing style. While Oliver's indecisiveness is obvious throughout the text, it is physically obvious in the shape of the poem itself.
Hope is a powerful thing; more powerful than death itself. Night, by Elie Wiesel, is about a jewish boy who is put into a concentration camp during the Holocaust. Elie doubted his faith to survive but had others to lean on during the hardship. Elie had the support of others as a sense of hope to survive the long, cold nights, with little food and water.
On September 17, 1951, Cassandra Peterson was born. Although her family eventually relocated to Randolph, Kansas, she was born in Manhattan, Kansas. Prior to Turtle Creek Reservoir flooding the Kansas Randolph region, she was raised there. She attended General William J. Palmer High School when the family relocated to Colorado Springs. She graduated from High School in 1969 and during the course of her education, she had her mother, who owned a costume shop, make whatever outfits she desired in her size, and wore them to school.
Before you suffocate your own fool self by Danielle Evans is written as a set of short stories which cover multiple social issues. These short stories often have a main character who has come upon hardship or are having a coming of age moment within their lives. During these stories the main character is having an internal struggle with rationality and logic vs. raw emotion and outside influence. The main characters are usually intelligent and self-aware yet they still knowingly make irresponsible decisions which are not in their best interest. These decisions are usually because they are at a crossroads or breaking point where they no longer can accept things for what they are.
“...these days had never been as beautiful as these… each day a golden surprise” (2-4). In the short story “The Flowers”, surprise is the element that Alice Walker uses to portray the meaning. IT is at the heart of the meaning which is driven forward by imagery, setting, and diction. Walker takes her past experiences and uses them in her writings to make her story stronger.
On September 11, 2001, tragedy struck the city of New York. On that fateful day, two airplanes were hijacked by terrorists and flew straight into the twin towers. Each tower fell completely to the ground, taking thousands of lives with it and injuring thousands more. Not only did that day leave thousands of families without their loved ones, it also left an entire city and an entire country to deal with the aftermath of the destruction. Poet, Nancy Mercado, worries that one day people will forget that heartbreaking day.
Author Harlan Coben once said, “Adolescence is always a war; no one gets out unscathed”. There are many attributes shared amongst teens, and in the story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” by Joyce Carol Oates, the protagonist, Connie is the embodiment of the typical teenage girl. Oates depicts Connie in such a way by the use of Connie’s appearance and actions, as well as her relationships, and budding sexuality. One key element that characterizes Connie as an average teen is her appearance and actions.
Joyce Carol Oates created a deep and intriguing story that has readers fearful to read what happens next. "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been" was published in 1966. Other notable works that Joyce Carol Oates has created are "With Shuddering Fall" and "The Wheel Of Love". Common themes and topics she follows are everyday characters, also psychologically and socially terrifying situations. Most of her works are written based off real life tragedies that she heard or read about in a magazine or on the news.
“Today’s Demon: Common Scents” Lynda Barry represents that being an individual and not conforming to societies idea of perfection is better than pretending to be someone she is not. “Common Scents” tells of a young girl, N’ako who notices the specific smell in each house; although, she is told her house has a foul smell she states that should prefer that smell because it represents her own identity. The message presented throughout the story is first shown when the young girl notices a distinct smell that is unique to each home she enters, then again when she realizes the lady who sprays air freshener in her home does this to reach an image of perfection, and finally, during a conversation with her grandmother she decides that there was no
Short Analysis Paper In the book, “Parting at the Crossroads: The Development of Health Insurance in Canada and the United States”, Antonia Maioni will examine the healthcare system, more importantly, health insurance plan in Canada, and U.S. Although Canada or the United States of America are neighboring countries, they have developed different forms of health insurance. In this paper, it will compare and contrast the historical methodology of the upbringing of the health insurance services in both Canada and the United States of America. It will further analyze the author’s perspective of divergences, and misidentification, between two different countries.
Finding one passion could be tricky. Sometimes we confuse passion with skills, passion is something that you do and enjoy no matter how tired or even if it doesn’t make you a millionaire. Skills are something that you are good at but you don’t enjoy, one will continue on this path because we need to pay our bills. This doesn’t make it right or wrong but we should be happy with ourselves doing what we enjoy.
A relationship between a father and a son is a sacred bond, one created at birth and strengthened over time. This paternal relationship is core to the value of family, a likewise bond of faith and trust. Such bonds are tested during times of hardship and pain, seen most clearly during times of war. During the events of World War II, and the gruesome events of the Holocaust, this truth was never more true. Through works such as the memoir Night, by survivor Elie Wiesel, and the artistry of the 1997 film Life is Beautiful, directed by Roberto Benigni, these times of hardships are kept alive in common memory.