This thesis is intended to delve into the one-and-a-half generation of Cuban-American’s bicultural identity in Virgil Suarez’s novel Going Under. Through an interpretation from the perspective of diaspora consciousness, this paper will identify how the main character constructs his individual identity through a network of usually competitive and incompatible elements like language, culture, religion, political ideologies and so on. Xavier Cuevas, the protagonist in this novel, maintains an unstable relationship with the American culture which he believes he has been wholly assimilated. The tension and anxiety lead him to “go under” and search for roots to return to the moment before exile.

Silko, as a writer who attaches great importance to the landscape of the Laguna reservation, accentuates natural elements and imagery in her literary creation. Gardens in the Dunes is the most typical one. This novel is infused with a vast scope of flora and detailed delineation of weather to the extent that some even believe that Silko must be an expert in horticulture and meteorology. “Wind” is one of the most recurrent weather imageries in Gardens in the Dunes, ranging from the literary form of “wind”, “breeze” to “storms” and “hurricane”. Based on the analysis of the wind’s interaction with different characters and the roles it plays, such as “backgrounder”, purifier, facilitator, messenger, consoler, mentor and destroyer, the author is dedicated to elucidating that through depicting the “wind” in different circumstances, Silko reveals her advocacy of reconstructing female identity, her denunciation of imperialism and capitalism as well as her reflection on native cultures.