The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down

by

Anne Fadiman

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Peggy Philp Character Analysis

One of Lia’s primary doctors, and Neil Ernst’s wife. A pediatrician who specializes in hematology and child development, she is—like her husband—a motivated person who is most interested in discovering the truth. She and Neil pore over Lia’s medical records to answer Fadiman’s many questions, often catching small and previously unnoticed details in the sea of paperwork that comprises the young girl’s medical history.

Peggy Philp Quotes in The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down

The The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down quotes below are all either spoken by Peggy Philp or refer to Peggy Philp. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Cultural Values, Spirituality, and Medicine  Theme Icon
).
Chapter 5 Quotes

A handful of times, Neil gave Foua a hug while Lia was seizing, but most of the time, while Lia was between the ages of eighteen months and three and a half years, he was too angry to feel much sympathy toward either of her parents. “The best thing I could have given Lia’s mother was compassion, and I wasn’t giving her any and I knew that I wasn’t giving her any,” he said. “There was just too much aggravation. It was like banging your head against a wall constantly and not making any headway. There was the frustration of the nighttime calls and the length of time it took and the amount of energy and sorrow and lack of control. […] When she came to the emergency room in status there would be sort of like a very precipitous peak of anger, but it was quickly followed by the fear of having to take care of a horribly sick child who it was very difficult to put an IV in.” Peggy added, “Some of the anger came from that. From our own fear.”

Related Characters: Anne Fadiman (speaker), Lia Lee, Neil Ernst, Peggy Philp
Page Number: 56
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 13 Quotes

Calling Lia a vegetable was, it seemed to me, just one more form of avoidance. In describing what had happened to her, [Neil] and Peggy both used the kinds of terms favored by the doctors in MASH, gallows-humor slang wielded in times of extreme stress on the theory that if you laugh at something it can’t break your heart. “Lia gorked.” “She crumped.” “She fried her brain.” “She vegged out.” “She crapped out.” “She went to hell.” “No one’s at home, the lights are out.”

Related Characters: Anne Fadiman (speaker), Lia Lee, Neil Ernst, Peggy Philp
Page Number: 173
Explanation and Analysis:
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The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down PDF

Peggy Philp Quotes in The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down

The The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down quotes below are all either spoken by Peggy Philp or refer to Peggy Philp. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Cultural Values, Spirituality, and Medicine  Theme Icon
).
Chapter 5 Quotes

A handful of times, Neil gave Foua a hug while Lia was seizing, but most of the time, while Lia was between the ages of eighteen months and three and a half years, he was too angry to feel much sympathy toward either of her parents. “The best thing I could have given Lia’s mother was compassion, and I wasn’t giving her any and I knew that I wasn’t giving her any,” he said. “There was just too much aggravation. It was like banging your head against a wall constantly and not making any headway. There was the frustration of the nighttime calls and the length of time it took and the amount of energy and sorrow and lack of control. […] When she came to the emergency room in status there would be sort of like a very precipitous peak of anger, but it was quickly followed by the fear of having to take care of a horribly sick child who it was very difficult to put an IV in.” Peggy added, “Some of the anger came from that. From our own fear.”

Related Characters: Anne Fadiman (speaker), Lia Lee, Neil Ernst, Peggy Philp
Page Number: 56
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 13 Quotes

Calling Lia a vegetable was, it seemed to me, just one more form of avoidance. In describing what had happened to her, [Neil] and Peggy both used the kinds of terms favored by the doctors in MASH, gallows-humor slang wielded in times of extreme stress on the theory that if you laugh at something it can’t break your heart. “Lia gorked.” “She crumped.” “She fried her brain.” “She vegged out.” “She crapped out.” “She went to hell.” “No one’s at home, the lights are out.”

Related Characters: Anne Fadiman (speaker), Lia Lee, Neil Ernst, Peggy Philp
Page Number: 173
Explanation and Analysis: