Similarities Between 'The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down'

A person’s personal knowledge or historical accounts are the basis for a memoir. There are various authors that have various ways to create a memoir that fits them and their story. William Faulkner, an American writer, won a Nobel Prize in Literature from Oxford Mississippi in 1949. During his banquet speech, he shared his perspective in writing memoirs and writing in general. As he put it the “writer’s duty” was that young writers are forgetting the problems of the human heart which is in conflict with itself and that writers must write with love, pride, and compassion instead of the opposite. Faulkner says that writing the truth and being passionate is what will make a story good and other authors have fulfilled this “writer’s duty”. In The …show more content…
On page 290 Fadiman explains how she was affected by Lia’s story not only as a person, who has never experience the difficulties of a language barrier, but also as a writer. As Fadiman wrote the memoir The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down where a Hmong girl named Lia suffered the consequences of the cultural barrier between doctors and people while it was meant for doctors and people from other cultures, the story had affected her and as she said “her life as a writer”. It can be difficult sometimes for people whose English is their second language to be able to understand the difference between cultures and Fadiman had never realized that until she met Lia. Lia’s story had caused the author’s point of view on life change along with her writing. Fadiman had written about how even though there was people who had negative thoughts of Hmong people, Lia’s family and her doctors felt compassion for Lia. Fadiman spoke the truth about how a cultural and language barrier, something that seems like it wouldn’t be an obstacle, can affect a person 's’ life drastically and the kindness for Lia. Like the Dillard and Gates she speaks the truth about Lia’s story yet she had a different approach compared to Dillard and instead of creating a tragic story of a girl who would never get better she created a story of how …show more content…
On page 229 Saadawi says how the moments in our life whether they were tragic or joyous the struggle of the event should be told to the people. In The Hidden Face of Eve, Nawal informs the readers of the Western world about the Arab culture and what happens to women in the culture. She tells the truth of the degradation of women in the Arab society by men and shows the people in the Western world that women are being treated wrong. She repeatedly tells the readers how men constantly put women down in the Arab society and how women shouldn’t be treated this way. Saadawi saw her tragic event as a sign that many women are being treated horribly and when she talked to many other girls who’ve had the same problem, she decided to tell the truth about the event even though many others