Yer Lee Character Analysis in The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down

One of Lia’s older sisters. When Lia is three months old, Yer slams a door and Lia goes into her first epileptic seizure. Foua and Nao Kao believe that the loud sound of the door slamming scared Lia so much that her soul fled her body, a belief that causes them—at least for a little while—to treat Yer differently from the other children.

Yer Lee Character Timeline in The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down

The timeline below shows where the character Yer Lee appears in The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Cultural Values, Spirituality, and Medicine Theme Icon

Three months after her healthy birth, Lia went into a seizure after her older sister Yer loudly slammed the apartment door. Foua and Nao Kao immediately suspected what happened: the loud... (full context)

...Fadiman remarks that Lia was her parents’ favorite child. Unfortunately, the family seemed to blame Yer for slamming the door, despite Jeanine’s insistence that this had nothing to do with Lia’s... (full context)

...her subjects, describing that Nao Kao died of congestive heart failure in 2003 and that Yer and her siblings have grown up to be successful Hmong-Americans. Yer, a dental assistant, tells... (full context)