Symbolism In The Shack

The Shack is a fictional, meditative book written William P. Young. The Shack is about a man called Mackenzie, or Mack. He had a wife and three kids, until one summer trip. Every year, Mack’s family would go on a camping trip, until one year when Missy, Mack’s youngest daughter, is abducted and killed by the Little Lady Killer, one of the antagonists in the story. I made a collage using symbolism to explain my book report. One of the pictures in my collage is a picture of a camping RV. This represents how Mack’s family was having a reflective, memorable, exciting time with his family.

The next picture above the RV is a ladybug. This represents the Little Lady Killer. The Little Lady Killer was a man that abducted and killed little girls.

In The Shack, after Missy’s case was investigated, the police discover the last of Missy. It is a red dress, soaked in Missy’s blood on the cold floor of an old shack around the camping site. After Mack sees this, he falls into the saddest years of his life, The Great Sadness.

Below the picture of the old shack is the words: The Great Sadness. This symbolizes a period of time after Missy’s death, when Mack cut most social contact and always felt miserable because of the death of his

Jesus was like a welcoming brother to Mack, showing him things he never thought of deeply and meditatively. Mack and Jesus spent time exploring nature while Mack was in this colorful scene. I chose the picture of the stars with trees because Jesus and Mack went stargazing to rediscover the beauty in creation in the book.

The picture of the colorful rose, the word “fractal” and colorful design represent the Holy Spirit. She showed Mack how his life was like a fractal, having beautiful patterns but felt like a mess. I chose the rose because the Holy Spirit and Mack gardened while they had these conversations about how there are ups and downs in life, and how he could do things to solve the problems he faced.

To find out the ending to this book, I would suggest you read this book. I decided to have a gradient effect with my collage, from black and white to color to show how Mack was gently pulled out of his suffering and would be able see things in a different perspective as he learned from God. This book was recommended to me by my mother. She told me to read this book with an open mind. I did, and was able to learn a lot from this book. In the end, does the Little Lady Killer get arrested and punished for his crimes? Read the book to find