ipl-logo

The Shack

1010 Words5 Pages

Journal # 1: Three Active Reading Strategies

Not everyone can say that they have had an active conversation with God. This quarter, I have been reading WM. Paul Young’s novel, The Shack, and I am on page 85. Mack Phillips can say that he has had a talk with God or, “Papa,” like what the Phillips family refers to him as. The conversation might not have been as cheery as you might have hoped. Mack Phillip’s 5-year-old daughter was kidnapped and presumably murdered during a family camping trip. A few weeks after her disappearance, a bloodstained dress belonging to his daughter had been found in an abandoned shack in the wilderness in the middle of nowhere. Four years go by until Mack receives a note signed by God himself that invited Mack back …show more content…

I think that The Shack perfectly describes the ideal image of God. WM. Paul Young seems as if he himself has spoken with God. He shows this in the way he describes God and his personality. I give this book five-star rating just because of the author’s depiction of the Holy Trinity. I, personally, would never have pictured the Holy Spirit in this manner. “But strangely, he still had a difficult focusing on her; she seemed almost to shimmer in the light, and her hair blew in all directions even though there was hardly a breeze.” (Page 86 WM. Paul Young) During Mack’s conversation with the three separate parts of the Holy Trinity, he learns how to forgive and relieve himself of his anger towards himself, his daughter’s killer, and God. Jesus teaches Mack how to forgive like he did while he was being crucified. Jesus forgave the Romans for his execution. I think that the author offered a good connection between Jesus and …show more content…

The amount of detail that the author goes into in order to perfectly describe a scene is amazing. A good example of the descriptive terms used by WM. Paul Young is when Mack is first returning to the forest. “ The trail was treacherous, the rocks icy and slippery. Every step took concentration as he descended into the thickening forest. It was eerily quiet.” (Page 78 WM. Paul Young) In that passage, I picture Mack cautiously walking down into a valley with adroit foot placement. I see a very narrow path with loose rock and tree roots growing within the path like I have seen on my own hikes in the Montana wilderness. Also, there are snow covered tree branches and patches of snow and ice on the path every now and then. Another spot in the book is when he starts to leave the shack before everything changes. “The snowbanks had vanished, and summer wildflowers began to color the borders of the trail and the forest as far as he could see. Robins and finches darted after one another among the trees.” (Page 82 WM. Paul Young) The reader can even feel the warm air rush upon them immediately after reading this excerpt from the book. I think the author did a great job creating imagery within the different scenes.
In conclusion, The Shack is a book for which it is easy to visualize and question various portions of Mack’s journey to strengthen his faith and relationship with God. I look forward to finishing

Show More
Related

  • Anne Lamott's Traveling Mercies: An Analysis

    1371 Words  | 6 Pages

    Many may believe that reading a book about religion would be challenging to accomplish for someone who is not religious. But those people have never read Anne Lamott’s, Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith. If one were to ask non-religious college students to read a book by a random author about spirituality and “Finding God” through conversion, they would most likely roll their eyes and bear through it. In Lamott’s series of essays, one does not have to “suffer through the readings” because her writing style is one of a kind. She has strategically chosen every word because she is aware of how important her spiritual experiences are to so many people, religious or not.

    Read More

  • The Young Messiah In Cormac Mccarthy's The Road

    1446 Words  | 6 Pages

    A gift from God: The young Messiah in Cormac McCarthy’s The Road The Road shares the rough journey of a man and his messianic-figure son struggling to survive the morality of a post-apocalyptic world. The earth is destroyed and a majority of the once living are now deceased, however, the boy and his father continue to travel through their burned world. On their route south towards the coast, they find injured “good” guys and “bad” guys including thieves, shelter, clothes, and little food and water.

    Read More

  • Literary Devices In Tangerine, By Edward Bloor

    1143 Words  | 5 Pages

    Throughout the entire novel, the author’s use of literary devices is very clear. These literary devices, specifically similes and personification, help the reader get a better idea of the exact sounds and feelings which will allow them to know what it feels like to be there in that moment. “ I stood there, trying to think of a comeback, when suddenly, I heard a whooshing sound, like the sound you get when you open a vacuum-sealed can of peanuts. Then the brown water that had puddled up all over the field began to move. It began to run toward the back portables, like someone pulled the plug out of a giant bathtub.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Essay On The Shack

    628 Words  | 3 Pages

    The letter Going back Social anxiety Compare the movie with the book Figures Bibliography Abstract The Shack is about faith and have faith to believe in God and it have lesson and deal with social anxiety. I will explain the social anxiety part of the book I will compare it to the movies and shows similar and differences between the book and the movie.

    Read More

  • The Shack Book Report

    1846 Words  | 8 Pages

    Jesus and the holy spirit are just different forms of God. It is up to us how we see them. Our churches may have a certain image of them, but reading this book made me think it is up to ourselves how we see God, Jesus, and the holy spirit. It is easy for us to see Jesus as a handsome, tall, strong man, but he was not. He was just like us, his people.

    Read More

  • Religion In William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying

    2627 Words  | 11 Pages

    However, somewhat ironically, the character who is perhaps the most standout Christ figure in the novel is Jewel, who in his only chapter questions the existence of God. Although Jewel doesn’t seem like the ideal Christ figure because of the way he speaks and the actions he takes, William Faulkner

    Read More

  • Symbolism In The Veldt

    976 Words  | 4 Pages

    One example is when they bring the Veldt Room to life by all of the mechanics that show the sound, smell, and even temperature. “The hot straw smell of lion grass, the cool green smell of the hidden water hole, the great rusty smell of animals, the smell of dust like a red paprika in the hot air. And now the sounds: the thump of distant antelope feet on grassy sod, the papery rustling of vultures.” This shows how realistic everything is and that you don’t have to leave your house to get an experience of an African Dessert, The way Bradbury appeals to all of the senses to give the reader the experience as if there standing next to George in the African desert, he gives something that is till and a place, a life and makes it seem so much more alive than it is. Bradbury uses the phrase “the papery rustling of vultures.”

    Read More

  • The Devil In The White City Rhetorical Analysis

    819 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Devil in the White City Rhetorical Analysis Essay The Chicago World’s Fair, one of America’s most compelling historical events, spurred an era of innovative discoveries and life-changing inventions. The fair brought forward a bright and hopeful future for America; however, there is just as much darkness as there is light and wonder. In the non-fiction novel, The Devil in the White City, architect Daniel Burnham and serial killer H. H. Holmes are the perfect representation of the light and dark displayed in Chicago. Erik Larson uses positive and negative tone, juxtaposition, and imagery to express that despite the brightness and newfound wonder brought on by the fair, darkness lurks around the city in the form of murder, which at first, went unnoticed.

    Read More

  • Into The Wild Figurative Language

    732 Words  | 3 Pages

    It also exemplifies the jurastic difference between the peaceful areas of the forest and the extreme woods in Alaska. One moment there can be a nice little open field and the next you cannot see ten feet without a tree getting in your way. From that the reader can easily foreshadow the events to come in Alex’s

    Read More

  • The Batboy Book Summary

    592 Words  | 3 Pages

    He makes great use of simile and metaphor in this book. For example, when he is talking about being so close up to a dramatic game he says “It was one of those moments when Brian felt as if baseball was close enough for him to reach out and touch. Like his hands were around the handle of a

    Read More

  • Cormac Mccarthy Code Of Ethics In The Road

    1813 Words  | 8 Pages

    The thrilling novel “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy is a story about a post apocalyptic world following the lives of a man and a boy as they head south to escape the cold winter that is headed their way. Along with the cold of winter approaching they also have to deal with the new dangers of the land while traveling such as cannibals, robbers, and many more dangers. This is a tale of a unnamed man and a boy who must not only learn how to survive but find a inner “fire”, establish a code of ethic, and continue in finding reasons to live in this “new world”. With McCarthy’s unique approach to the characters of the book having no names or the cause of destruction of the world unknown it helps the reader feel the confusion and whats really important

    Read More

  • More Than A Carpenter Summary

    894 Words  | 4 Pages

    More Than a Carpenter I. Introduction More Than a Carpenter is a Christian Apologetics and Inspirational book written by Josh McDowell with later contributions by his son, Sean McDowell. First published in 1977 by Tyndale House Publishers, the work has sold more than 27 million copies worldwide, and remains to be one of the bestselling books about Christianity and Evangelism. The author, Joslin “Josh” McDowell, is an American Christian apologist and evangelist born in Union City, Michigan in 1939. He has authored or co-authored more than 100 books about Christian Apologetics since 1960, once of which being his highly influential book, Evidence That Demands a Verdict.

    Read More

  • Annotated Bibliography Of Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

    790 Words  | 4 Pages

    “Young Goodman Brown.” : An Annotated Bibliography “Young Goodman Brown” is a story about a man who challenges his faith in himself and in the community in which he resides. Gregory, Leslie. " The Text of Nathaniel Hawthorne 's "Young Goodman Brown". " American Literature Research and Analysis.

    Read More

  • Kevin Young Essay

    595 Words  | 3 Pages

    In addition, Kevin Young uses a heavy dose of similes. These similes provoke images that are intended to describe the setting, mood, or tone. Lastly, Young has adopted a couplet or triplet style of writing. All these ways has given Kevin Young a unique modus operandi that’s highly relatable and enjoyable to read.

    Read More

  • Symbolism In The Road Not Taken

    1777 Words  | 8 Pages

    Frost utilizes analogous imagery throughout his poems; specifically in this poem, he uses natural imagery like the woods and roads to signify these themes. The woods represent indecision and instinct. Everywhere in literature, the plots of novels and poems alike contain characters lost in the woods. Similarly, in “The Road Not Taken”, the woods represent indecision while an adrift traveler wanders lost in the woods (Rukhaya). Frost repeatedly uses this symbol, and “the image...has represented indecision in Frost’s other poems…

    Read More

More about The Shack

Open Document