《他们眼望上苍》一书以美国黑人奴隶时代为背景,跨越一个时代的终结,通过祖孙两代女性截然不同的性格和命运,并主要从孙女珍妮的人生际遇出发,寄托创作者左拉·尼尔·赫斯顿妇女主义的人生观、世界观和文学观。奴隶时代孕育的祖母有着根深蒂固的弱势群体意识,她常常对珍妮说: The book “They Look at God” is based on the background of Afro-American slavery era. Across the end of an era, through the disparate personalities and fates of the two generations of grandparents and grandchildren and mainly from the experiences of granddaughters Jenny, Neil Heston’s life philosophy, world outlook and literary outlook of women. The grandmothers nurtured in the slave era had a deep-rooted sense of vulnerable groups and she often said to Jenny: