Lia Lee Sparknotes

Lia Lee was the first of her siblings to be born in not only the United States, but also was the first to be born in a hospital. Her parents, Nao Kao and Foua, were Hmong immigrants who fled to the United States. This story is a journey of the family’s struggle, with their special daughter Lia, and also the doctors who played an important role in their lives. The biggest struggle, however, was the conflicting views and beliefs of these two parties.
To understand this conflict the reader must first know who the Hmong actually are. The Hmong are what most people would consider to be a primitive people. They still sacrifice animals in their home, grow herbs and vegetables in their backyards or anywhere they can, and they do not believe in western medicine (with just a few exceptions). The exception to western medicine is antibiotics, which the Hmong actually love and expect this “quick fix” for everything. Part of the reason the Hmong hate western medicine is because of the high prestige people in medicine have. The Hmong have a hate for people that try and command them to do things.
This autonomy stems from years of being oppressed and the attempt to eradicate them from the earth by many Asian territories. Even against all of
Nao Kao and Foua did not respond well to this. Their distrust of authority figures made them think that these drugs were not going to help their daughter. That was not the only reason they did not follow the regimen though, the language and cultural barrier also had a lot to do with it. Lia’s parents decided when they wanted to give her medicine and even doubled up on some very dangerous medications. This led to multiple hospitalizations and Lia’s condition getting steadily worse. Eventually Lia was placed in foster care for a while until Nao Kao and Foua were competent enough to give Lia her