王鼎鈞〈土〉、劉大任〈盆景〉、張系國〈地〉這三篇發表於同一年、同樣出自於外省作家之筆的作品，同樣以「土地」象徵來思索其外省人在臺灣的命運以及未來將如何自處的身分問題。王鼎鈞以人物華弟試圖解釋外省人無法放棄鄉愁但又不得不融入臺灣的尷尬處境；劉大任則是在小說中批判第一代的苟且態度，而以更開放的態度面對外省第二代在臺灣此一土地上所可能的未來；張系國則是以土地為象徵，突顯了第一代與第二代外省族裔無根的困境。這些思索的痕跡，代表了外省人在臺灣土地生活將近二十年之後，離散主體意識到遷移地的存在，並且思考自我身分的一個努力。縱使這樣的一番探尋在小說中並未獲得具體答案，但可說是在邁入七○年代之前，部分外省族群對於身分問題可貴的自覺性反省。

"The Earth," "The Potted Plant," "The Land," all written by Mainland descent authors Wang Ding-jun; Liu Da-ren; and Zhang Xi-guo, were published in the same year. With the symbol of land, the three works probe deeply into the destiny of the people of Mainland descent in Taiwan as well as the way they view themselves. Among the three works, Wang tries to depict the awkward situation of the people of Mainland descent through a character called Hua-di: they indulged themselves in the nostalgic mood but have to fit in to the Taiwanese way of life at the same time. On the other hand, Liu discovers the fact that there is a kind of potentiality for future in the second generation even though he criticizes the compromising life philosophy of the first generation of Mainland descent. Zhang, using the land as a symbol, shows the predicament of rootlessness in the first and the second generations of the Mainland descent. The traces of these meditations represent the Mainland descendents' efforts in forming their self identity in diaspora as well as their reflection on it. Even though the quest for identity does not lead to a specific destination, these stories still characterize the conscious self-reflection of some Mainland groups in Taiwan before the 1970s.