The Shack is a fictional book about the spritiual journey of a father, Mackenzie Allen Phillips. In the book, his six year old daughter, Missy, is abducted on a family camping trip. The family discovers that she was taken to a shack in the Oregon Wilderness and murdered. "At times he could feel The Great Sadness slowly tightening around his chest and heart like the crushing coils of a constrictor, squeezing liquid from his eyes until he thought there no longer remained a reservor," Mackenzie feels (Young 25). They found evidence, but have not found the body. Four years later Mackenzie Phillips receives a mysterious note in his mailbox, signed God, telling him to return to this shack where his daughter was brutally murder. Unsure, he returns to this rugged shack by himself one day. "Other times he would dream that his feet were stuck in cloying mud, as he caught brief glimpses of Missy running down the wooded path ahead of him, her red cotton summer dress gilded with wildflowers flashing among the trees. She was completely oblivious to the dark shadow tracking her from behind. Although he frantically tried to scream warnings to her, no sound emerged and he was always too late and too impotent to save her," Mackenzie dreams (Young 25). Scared out of his mind, he enters the shack on a winter day. The shack completely transforms into a beautiful cabin and Mackenzie finds a surprise waiting for him. He finds God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit in the form of human beings. During this amazing encounter, he discovers things about the murder, God, and himself that he did not know before. I do not want to say more because i do not want to give away the ending, but this crazy encounter at the shack changes his life forever.
1) There are many debates on whether the author intended for Mackenzie's encounter with God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit was supposed to be a dream or was intended to be real life. What do you think and why?
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2) What do you think the authors purpose was for writing this book? What do you think he is trying to say?
I think that the author meant to have the encounter perceived as a dream. A spiritual journey that Mackenzie had gone on when he was asleep or in a very vulnerable mood, because that is how God would usually connect with humans. Through dreams or meditation.
The author's purpose was to entertain and inspire readers about the world of religion.
I think that his encounter with God was more of a hallucination. He was desperate to find details about his daughter's murder. His mind was grabbing at anything it could take. Although it was a hallucination, that does not mean that Mackenzie did not learn anything.
Natesa-I agree with you that God would normally not appear to someone in real life. I have not decided for myself yet if this was supposed to be reality for Mack or if it was supposed to be a dream. I think the author purposely leaves that open for each individual to decide what they think.
Nicole-I agree that he did learn many things although it could have been a dream. He might have been in a dream or it might have been real. It could have been a rare case in which God actually did appear to Mackenzie in human form. The author leaves this up for interpretation.
I think that the author left it open to interpretation also. He probably meant to have it as many different ways to different people. Everyone interprets it in the way that it pertains to their own life.
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