Study Questions
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down
The two cultures
1. Do you feel the author was evenhanded in her presentation of Hmong culture and
medical culture?
2. The book contains many Hmong phrases and many medical phrases, both unfamiliar
to most readers. Why do you think the author included them?
3. 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?
4. How does the Hmong folktale about how Shee Yee fought with nine evil dab brothers,
told at the end of Chapter Twelve, reflect Hmong culture?
5. What do traditional Hmong consider their most important duties and obligations?
What do American doctors consider their most important duties and obligations?
6. In Chapter Eighteen, Fadiman writes, “As William Osler said—or is said to have
said—„Ask not what disease the person has, but rather what person the disease has.‟”
How might have the events of this book have unfolded if Osler's dictum were universally
followed in the medical profession? How would your relations with your own doctors
change?
7. 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?
8. 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?
9. At the end of Chapter Eighteen, Sukey Waller asks, “Which is more important, the life
or the soul?” What do you think?
The characters
10. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down revolves around a small child who for
much of the book is too young to speak for herself, and at the end is unable to. Do you
