The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman
The metaphor ‘fish soup’ is primary to understanding the diversity of the Hmong. It stems from simple instructions of a mere five-minute French recipe needed by the professor from a Hmong student. The metaphor is symbolic to the understanding of how the Hmong view the world as a connection of events that do not exist in isolation (Fadiman, 1999). Therefore, Anne Fadiman uses the metaphor in narrating the life of a sick Lia but connecting it to the long history of the Hmong.
Fadiman’s book and its structure reflect entirely on the metaphor because it is not sequential. The life of Lia, as narrated, is pegged on the history, cultural, and social life of the Hmong. Instead of the author chronicling the main points of the child’s life, she recounts the Hmong’s way of life, tying it to the child’s family and their beliefs. For instance, the family is stubborn and paranoid about the medicinal value of the doctors. The doctors believe the kid would die soon, taking her back to the family. However, she lives for twenty-six more years (Fadiman, 1999). Similarly, it is the stubbornness of the Hmong, however, outnumbered, during invasions by the Chinese that prolonged their lives.
The author, in different ways, projects the events of communal and professional pride in maintaining and respecting cultural diversity using the ‘fish soup’ metaphor. For instance, the student takes forty-five minutes to elaborate on his artistic way, the Hmong’s way of making fish soup. The professor does not halt his presentation, although it is not the procedural recipe for fish soup (Fadiman, 1999). Additionally, the doctors have to respect Lia’s family’s way of acquiring medical help despite their stubbornness in the doctors’ professional way. Finally, the Chinese, despite outnumbering the Hmong during conflicts, to eradicate their barbaric way of life, had to accept and respect them and only restrict their movement through the construction of a wall, to contain them.
References
Fadiman, A. (1999). The spirit catches you, and you fall down. New York: Noonday.