CHARACTER

Mack: Mackenzie Allen Phillips is the protagonist of The Shack.

He had an unhappy childhood because his father was a violent alcoholic.

Papa: Papa has chosen to call herself “Papa” because that is what Nan, Mack’s wife, calls God.

Papa thought that this might help Mack relate to herself as God.

Sarayu: Sarayu possesses some of the powers of God such as being omniscient and omnipresent.

Jesus:

Mack finds it easier to relate to Jesus than to the other two “parts” of God, Papa, and Sarayu.

Missy: The story makes Missy wonder if God will ever ask her to jump off a cliff.

Mack assures her that this will never happen.

Nan Phillips:

Nan Phillips is Mack’s wife.

She is a nurse in a cancer ward and comforts patients who are terminally ill.

Sophia:She says that when Mack judges other humans such as the murderer of his daughter, by
extension, he is judging God.

Willie:Willie explains that he is telling the story of the novel as Mack told it to him.

MACK’S FATHER:Mack then ran away from his family home when he was thirteen years old.

The novel implies that Mack’s initial difficulties connecting with God derive from his experiences with his
father.

Kate:Kate is the older daughter of Mack and his wife Nan.

Josh:Josh, however, does not suffer after Missy’s death as much as the rest of the family. He forms
friendships after her death that help him live through the tragedy.

The ducettes:After Missy disappears, the Ducettes help with the search.

The Madisons:The Madisons are a Canadian couple whom Mack and his children become friends on the
camping trip where Missy is abducted.

Tommy Dalton:Tommy Dalton is the police officer in charge of the search for Missy after she disappear

Sam: Sam, short for Samantha, is the FBI officer who connects enough forensic evidence to link Missy’s
death to a serial murderer “The Little Ladykiller
 Settings

The setting of The shack is at a place called Wallowa Lake and a shack in the woods. The time period is
modern day. Four years to the main events of the story, Mack takes three (of his five) children on a
camping trip to Wallowa Lake Oregon stopping at Multnomah Falls on the way.

Introduction:

Mackenzie “Mack” Phillips suffered physical and emotional abuse as a child at the hands of his
drunken father, who abused his mother as well. One day, Mack tells the preacher at his church of his
abuse, and as punishment, his father harshly beats him, leading to Mack’s mother’s decision to leave
them. As a 13-year-old boy, he chose to poison his father with strychnine in his whiskey.

A few years later, now an adult, he has a fulfilling life with his wife, Nan, and their three children: Kate,
Josh and Missy. Mack’s life falls apart when their youngest child Missy disappears during a camping
trip while he is saving Kate and Josh during a canoeing accident. The police determine Missy is the
victim of a serial killer after finding her torn dress and blood in a derelict cabin in the forest (the titular
“shack”). Kate blames herself for Missy’s death, because she caused the canoe accident in the first
place.

Climax:

Papa(God) takes Mack and tries to help him sort out his feelings. He walks with Jesus across a lake,
where Mack sees his father in heaven with the holy spirit. Finally Papa takes Mack to a cave, where he
finds Missy’s body.

End of story:
Later on, Mack tells Nan about what he saw on his journey and convinces Kate that whatever
happened on the canoe wasn’t her fault. The film ends with Mack attending church again with his
family, as the audience is left to decide whether the events that happened at the shack were real or
not.

Mack decides it’s best if he leaves the Shack, which he then nearly dies from a fatal car accident, to
later find out that he was in a car accident on his way to the shack, and that he dream’t everything up.

Moral lesson:

God pursues us

This father lost his faith and trust in God. The movie is not about him begging God for answers or
about him reaching out to God in any way. The Shack shows how relentless and powerful God’s
pursuit of us is. Many times we can think that God is angry and aloof and we need to please Him and
beg for His attention. We are the object of His affection and although I don’t quite understand how or
why, I do know it to be true. From the garden of Eden where time began, right through to the end of
our lives, God is pursuing us and wants to reveal Himself to us.