	Imagine the inside of your head as a filter, allowing only certain substances to pass through. We can see in Maxine Hong Kingston’s works that there is a part of the Chinese identity where the idea of family, ghost and lust impact one’s mindset which silences and suppresses. These ideas are essentially filters and together create a “Chinese unconscious mind” which impacts the way a person thinks and acts. Depending on the filter you have, only certain ideas, thoughts, and desires occur. Adventure into China and learn about its customs, traditions and secrets as Kingston guides her readers in a wild fantasy ride into her imagination. We learn of her family's past secrets, as well as Kingston's struggles as a first generation Chinese American in California. She is a novelist immersed in the Chinese culture, and writes about this culture which has shaped and created the Kingston we know today. 
	The first stop in Kingston's tour is her essay “No Name Woman", where young Kingston and the reader learn of a dead aunt banished from her family tree. She suppresses her voice, as well as her will to seek and uncover the truth behind her aunt's death. "No Name Woman" begins with young Kingston's mother telling a story which occurred many years ago in mainland China, where her aunt has become pregnant to a different man from which she was engaged to. This supposedly personal family issue becomes a community wide problem. On the night when the baby was to be delivered, her village stormed the home of Kingston's mother and aunt, spewing blood of the family's freshly slaughtered livestock, tainting the beautiful characters of the Chinese language with words of slander from wall to wall of the home, vandalizing and stealing from the home of this new born baby in hopes of cursing and haunting this child - this miscarried and scornful child. But what did she do to deserve this? Nothing.
As soon as Kingston learns of this story, she is forced to keep silent about it. In Kingston’s family, this aunt does not exist, therefore mentioning this person will either incite rage into the family members, or isolation of Kingston from her family.
	The isolation of Kingston from her family would probably result in as she mentions, the “outcast table”, where she would be forced to eat dinner alone. It does not sound very isolated, but it is in fact very emotionally stressful. In the Chinese culture, we follow a “commensal tradition”, where family always eats together. 
In essence, the Chinese people are left stained and tainted, whereas the Japanese can start anew. Speaking from experience, my whole family is Chinese and I have seen my family create their own outcast table and “fed leftovers.” When I was younger, my aunt and grandmother had a little argument that went a long way. To this day, they do not speak to each other. My aunt, along with her kids moved out of our home and had to eat the leftovers. By leftovers in this case, I mean finding a new home, buying new furniture, and paying for household utilities. Kingston applies this knowledge of the leftovers and outcast tables as she puts herself into her aunt's shoes. ” Did she sit in the outcast table? Is this what will happen if I talk to my family about my aunt?”- are probably the questions going through Kingston’s mind. We learn from Kingston that the Chinese are very strict and protective about family. Especially in Kingston’s case, a mention of her aunt, a stain on the family’s bloodline , will always evoke negative emotions.
hile Kingston expresses silence through an ethnic culture, Ellen Goodman expresses silence through one's personality. However, Both Kingston and Goodman's basis for silence is filtering of the mind. A hierarchy is created within one's mind that grows and expands as the person ages, which allows certain stimuli to pass in, such as Phil's work matters, and disallows certain stimuli to come out, such as Kingston's knowledge of her aunt. One may see personality and ethnic cultures as walls or obstacles, but I view them as fortifications for the mind. Without these filters, an individual will absorb all stimuli, ultimately becoming a vegetable. Filters create a sense of self, a sense of belonging, and ultimately a sense of direction. This sense of direction drives an individual's purpose in life. We realize these ideas on the tour Kingston guides us through, such as her childhood memories, learning about the existence of her aunt, learning English, and her imagination. As a result of Kingston's tour, I realized that I have already been unconsciously avoiding the outcast table by staying silent. The filters that I have developed shape and create who I am today and have kept me away from the outcast table.
