This chapter is all about Anne Fadiman investigating Lia and the Lee�s and meeting them and getting to know them. It tells how the doctors that she talked to told her not to bother with that case because Foua and Nao Kao hated American�s and wouldn�t be of any help. But upon meeting them, after finding a good interpreter, falls in love with the Lee�s and that the Lee�s like her very much. After a while, Foua even tries to get her married, and in a way it works because Anne�s boyfriend proposes to her a few weeks later, and Foua was not shocked in the least bit. I find this chapter very sweet and in a way it makes me angry because of how, the doctors do not know the Lee�s outside of their interactions at the hospital and never knew how kind and caring they really were. And seeing as how this chapter is all about Anne getting to know the Lee family, mainly Foua and Nao Kao, the title fits is perfect.
Chapter 9 � A little Medicine and a little Neeb
This chapter shows how the Hmong culture came into play with Lia and her illness. That after her return home from foster care; the family bought a cow to be sacrificed for Lia and all of the different things that the family tried to help with her disease. It shows how they tried healing stones/gems and as their last choice tried changing her name, but they blame that failure on the doctors since they still called her by Lia. This chapter also shows that even though Lia had been getting the right amount of medications she began to have a grand mal seizure and become worse while at the hospital and Neil even wrote about it, and got it published even thought the hospital made a mistake. I do like the fact that Neil did that, because it shows that he was interested in the patient and not just the reputation of the hospital.
Chapter 10 � War
This chapter goes back to Lao�s where the Hmong lived for quite a long time, and gives a background on the Hmong and their relationship with the US in the time of the Vietnam war. How the Hmong were used as a secret army and how they were very easy to train were used in fighting. It was kind of sad for me to read this, I thought that they were being used because of their reputation as fierce fighters, and that most of the men of the Hmong people were killed because of this war, and in the end, not all of them were saved, and left to fend for themselves, even thought they had no land, and not very many people to help with farming or anything, and had to move themselves someplace. The title fit this chapter very well I think because it was basically all about the Vietnam war and how the Hmong people played a big part of it, even though American�s didn�t really hear anything about them or know that they were being used to fight in this war.
Chapter 11- The Big One
In this chapter, Nao Kao had taken Lia by ambulance to the hospital because she was having another seizure and Neil was paged, and this was the big one for her. The doctors knew that this was the big one kept trying to put IV�s in her, but basically they thought it was over. The doctors tried to tell Foua and Nao Kao and prepare them for their daughters death. Jeanine and the foster parents arrived at the hospital and the doctors talked to them, because they were the white people, and continued to give her meds but then stoped because they wanted her to die as natural as possible, and then the Lee�s took her home so that she could die with them at home.
Chapter 12 - Flight
The Lee�s decided to move to Thailand and according to Nao Kao, that if you did anything, the Vietnamese would kill you. The Lee�s were running and the Vietnamese tried to stop them and they fired at them and used mines to try to stop them, but the Lee�s survived. They ended up walking 26 days and they made it to Thailand. While there they spend two years in refugee camps, and after the war they tired to get rid of the Hmong culture, but the Hmong can not be assimilated. The Hmong were also offered resettlement and they refused it, which was shocking for the government.
Chapter 13 � Code X
In this chapter, it talks of how the Lee�s didn�t see their postwar experience as bas or as sad as Lia�s episode. Also how Neil and Peggy, her doctors just didn�t know what to do with Lia and that it was very sad for them. Foua and Nao Kao missed the Hmong new year�s because they were crying for their daughter and Foua dressed her up, because it was custom to dress someone up before they pass away. In the end, Lia didn�t die and she was home.
Chapter 14 � The Melting Pot
This chapter is about the Lee�s moving to America and learning the ways of American life. Like learning to use appliances. And when they moved to America several other Hmongs moved as well so that they could keep their culture instead of loosing it. It is about also the Hmong learning to adapt to the new way of life, and the different things to look out for and learn about American culture. And since America is such a new place for the Hmong, a lot of them are having troubles adapting to it.
Chapter 15 � Gold and Dross
When Lia returned home, she seemed to be normal, but everyone could tell that something wasn�t right with her. A lot of people thought it was because her soul was gone or missing. Jeanine took care of the family and even Neil came to visit. He was shocked that he recived thanks and wasn�t blamed for Lia, but instead that Lia�s parents were upset that she was sent to Fresno and that they were the wrong ones for her. Lia slowly became healthier, and her obesity was resolved. A new doctor was introduced to them, Martin, and he came to visit the Lee�s with an interpreter. He checked out Lia and was trying to give directions to her parents, but they seemed to come off cold, because they didn�t talk much or smile, and he didn�t know why he wasn�t received in a friendly manner because he was just trying to help.
Chapter 16 � Why did they pick Merced?
This Chapter is about the racism that the Hmong received while in Merced. People wanted to know why they chose Merced, (the title). Merced was thought of as a beautiful place, and word of that was spread around and many Hmong moved there, and they caused a big economic upheaval. Most of the Hmong were on welfare and a lot of the native�s hated them for that, but the Hmong did work and most of them worked on sewing clothes. But also, since there were so many Hmong children that more schools were built, and they over crowed the systems, even though they were good smart students.
Chapter 17 � The Eight Questions
Chapter 18 � The life or the Soul
Chapter 19 � The Sacrifice