And now for something completely different

The most interesting chapter thus far has been Chapter Eight in which the fourth wall of the narrator is finally deconstructed as Fadiman places herself in the story. The function of the narrator until this next section has been adding distance to the story, giving me, the reader, a chance to make up my mind about the characters and actions. The Spirit Catches you and you Fall Down has been a valuable text in this course because for most of the book, there’s a sense of impartiality in contrast to the more personal texts we’ve read recently. In this way, Fadiman establishes her credibility. She provides a full picture of the conflict, allowing me to form my own opinions. Moreover, the “informal cultural anthropology” is accessible as she avoids jargon and provides context for the story without assuming knowledge. Her standpoint then seems neutral; she laments the Lee’s experience and sympathizes in her side notes, and also provides the doctors’ opinions and others involved in the conference, giving them a literal voice. Until now, the book has been mostly a presentation rather than an analysis, allowing us to feel for both the Lees and the doctors, as we mentioned in class today.
Once she injects herself into the story, describing her experiences with the Lee’s and others, her standpoint changes and thus our impressions change. In some ways now, it is an autobiographical story, one of how she came to be interested in this experience and then reported it. Someone noted in class today how the story goes from the Lees’ problems with Lia to the Hmong experience in general chapter by chapter. This is her prerogative, an example of her standpoint. She is not solely examining the medical paradigm in the US, but simultaneously exploring the Hmong immigrant experience. Fadiman, writes, “The European immigrants…came to the united states because they hoped to assimilate into mainstream American society. The Hmong came to the United States for the same reason they had left China in the Nineteenth century: because they were trying to resist assimilation” (183). Here Fadiman presents a deeper current in the story. It is one of assimilation, immigration, the plight of the refugee, and how these themes are brought into the limelight in a time of an emotional medical emergency within a family. The Lees’ story became less about Lia for me at this point, and more about how Lia’s problem forced them to confront western society, exposing a larger immigrant/refugee problem in the U.S. It may not be directly related to our course work, but this question of U.S. acculturation and the role of the melting pot is one that interested me in this latter section of the book, and I thought this would be a good forum to discuss it.