The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down Papers & Assignment Topics

Essay Topics/Writing Assignments

These 20 essay questions can be used as essay questions on a test, or as stand-alone essay topics for a take-home or in-class writing assignment. Students should have a full understanding of the text in order to answer these questions. They ask for a thorough analysis of the text.

1. Explain the question on the author's mind after her experience with the Lee family that serves as the premise for the book. Be sure to talk about the clashing worlds of the Hmong culture and the medical community.

2. Explain the importance of the traditional burying of the placenta in the Hmong culture. What do the people believe it represents?

3. What importance does the history of the Hmong people, specifically the fact that doctors are not used in the culture and that the Lee family is forced to leave Laos, have to this story?