When terrible things happen to people their faith is shaken and they question the existence of God. The Shack, written by William P. Young, is a novel about a man named Mack who shares his story and his experience with faith. The novel begins with Mack receiving a note to meet Papa [God] at the shack; a place where evidence of his daughter's murder was found. In the Shack, Papa is portrayed as an African American woman, who challenges our traditional perception of God. A flashback of unfortunate events, then occurring leading to his daughter, Missy, being abducted, and presumably murdered. Mack decides to follow the note and meets Papa, Sarayu [Holy Spirit], and Jesus, where he learns lessons, lectures, and details about Missy’s death. Mack …show more content…
is presented with two heartbreaking choices: to continue in the physical presence of Papa, or to go back to his family. Mack chooses to go with his family, and tells his wife about his experiences and explains what happened to Missy. In the novel The Shack, the theme of faith is shown in the main character Mack’s experiences with free will in humanity, suffering, and forgiveness. People have the ability to do and think as they wish. If Papa had decided to control humanity, she believes that people will not feel betrayal, nor the chance to feel love. She decides to give society their own choice. However, a considerable amount of decisions are made of sin and evil. This begins with the story of Adam and Eve, when the pair gave into the temptations of the devil, and failed Papa’s tests. The level of sin and evil has advanced further in today’s society after Adam and Eve’s experience, leading Cain and Abel, and their murder. Mack’s Father chooses to live his life in evil and abuses Mack. The reader finds this out in the quote, “What about your choice to have another daughter, or your father’s choice to beat his son?” (191), and thus, injures Mack and his Father’s relationship. Mack questions Papa intentions to give the world free will when there is a murder in the family. Missy’s death brings him immense suffering that almost costs him all of his life’s happiness. This changes in the novel when Mack decides to follow a choice to pursue his relationship with Papa. He accomplishes this by taking the first step, physically driving to meet Papa. As he spends time with Papa, he relinquishes his anger at Missy’s killer and his Father. Mack learns that some people have negative upbringings and circumstances that make them emotionally unstable. At the end of the novel, Mack makes the hard choice to return to his family; to not stay with Papa and the others to continue to be in the physical presence of their Saviour. Mack makes this choice because he feels as though he is ready to accept Papa in his faith again without feeling insincere and hatred toward her. Papa confirms this, “But here is the choice for you to make. You can remain with us and continue to grow and learn, or you can return to your other home, to Nan and to your children and friends.” (234). Freewill in humanity has had outcomes of both sin and grace, however it is the choices everyone makes that determines our lives and others. Suffering is a natural emotion based on the concept that without sadness there would be no opposing feeling, love.
Throughout the novel Mack’s defeatist attitude allows The Great Sadness to take over his life and make him feel like he is “weighed down as if he were wearing a leaden bathrobe…” (25). However it is the unknown in which his daughter Kate struggles with the most in her faith. Kate feels responsible that she was the catalyst in which fueled her sister's death. The Great Sadness is a feeling the author creates for a reader to let them experience how much the recurrence of Mack’s grief has induced him abiding sorrow and misery. This is stated from the narrator, “Shortly after the summer that Missy vanished, The Great Sadness had draped itself around Mack’s shoulders like some invisible but almost tangibly heavy quilt.” (24). His life past his daughter's murder, has driven him into a permanent state of guilt. Mack feels although he saved his son from drowning, leaving Missy unattended, he should have realized that she was alone, an easy target for a predator. He replays this event constantly and consistently feels guilt. Mack blames all of Missy’s death and the emotions that have flooded him on Papa and that she betrayed him. Mack suffers through his thoughts in which he thinks that Papa had unlimited power and chose not to spare Missy and save his heartache. The unknown of what could have happened if they had chosen to take action in different activities leading up to Missy’s death has Kate feeling responsible for her sister Missy’s death. If Kate had not wanted to go canoeing then her brother wouldn’t have fallen into the water, and Missy would not have been left alone. Papa explains this to Mack about his daughter, “Kate believes that she is to blame for Missy’s death.” (236). The unknown of Missy’s remains, and of her conscious state leaves Mack questioning the suffering that Papa lets him endure. Mack has to decide to start the journey with Papa with
the initial note. Mack did not know the pain or critical truths that could accompany him throughout his time with Papa. Mack’s suffering was only a small price to pay for his release of The Great Sadness and figuring out how to enable a coping method with the unknown. Forgiveness is a key virtue that the author shows throughout the novel, The Shack, as Mack mends his relationship with Papa, the reader reads about how Papa mends her relationship with humanity and all of the evil committed daily. Mack talks to Papa several times about her decisions to let his daughter Missy suffer and be murdered. He asks questions such as why she selected his daughter to be murdered. Papa responds with answers that have to relate back to the free will that she let humanity live with. These explanations throughout the novel help Mack mend his relationship with her as he [Mack] understands the reasoning and actions taken. Mack’s journey with Papa allows him to heal, as his conflict with religion comes to an end, and he understands that he and his daughter always have Papa’s love. The love that Mack feels saves him and relieves him from living with the consequences of The Great Sadness. The narrator states this, “As Mack made his way down the trail toward the lake, he suddenly realized that something was missing. His constant companion, The Great Sadness, was gone.” (170). As Papa helps Mack forgive and resolve all of his hatred, she explains her relatable forgiveness problems with how humanity betrayed her and her friends Sarayu and Jesus. Jesus’ crucifixion was a big learning step for her forgiving humans and their decisions to kill their saviour out of judgement and doubt. Papa explains to Mack that she has forgiven humanity for all of the evil allowed in since the betrayal from Adam and Eve; in addition, all of the sinful acts committed daily. Papa discloses this, “I don’t need to punish people for Sin. Sin is its own punishment, devouring you from the inside. It’s not my purpose to punish it; it’s my joy to cure it.” (120). Forgiveness is the bond that connects Papa and Mack, through their stories about their relationships with each other and humanity. Forgiveness also allows Mack to welcome his faith back without feeling feign. Papa’s decisions to give humanity free will resulted in sin and evil. This was started early on when Adam and Eve decided to disobey Papa. In the novel, the free will that Papa allows Mack’s father (abuser), and Missy’s killer to have empowers both to create bad situations for themselves and their victims. The choices that Papa granted to humanity to be able to make let Mack decide to pursue his relationship with Papa from the very start. Mack gave himself the chance to forgive his Father and Missy’s killer the sources of his sadness. At the end of the novel, Mack chooses to end his experience with Papa, and go back to his family and return to his daily life. Mack has his share of suffering in his life, mainly sourcing from The Great Sadness. The feeling of The Great Sadness, is a combination of grief and guilt felt from Mack relating to Missy’s deaths and from Papa’s initial betrayal to not save her. The unknown allows The Great Sadness to creep on to Kate, from her guilt associated with her sister. Missy’s disappearance leaves everybody wondering if she is in a better place and if she is in pain. This makes their lives very difficult to believe in Papa, because of the tragedy she lets them endure. Papa’s relationship with Mack enables him to forgive by explaining her ways with sorrow and judgement, healing him with lessons and lectures, and by saving him from living with the consequences connected with The Great Sadness. Mack learns to forgive by following Papa’s ways from the situations of Jesus’ crucifixion, forgiving humanity for all of the evil let in to the world and all of the sins committed daily. Mack’s experiences with faith are shown through free will in humanity, suffering, and forgiveness. The chance to meet humankind’s saviour may not be as far out there as everyone may think.
The Novel House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski uses two characters of his own creation to construct the book in its entirety. The first contributor, Zampano, who is the author, who may or may not be trustworthy of the interpretation of The Navidson Record, because he is blind. Early on in his efforts to finish the book he dies under suspicious circumstances. At this point, Danielewski employees another to contribute, Johnny Truant, who composes the introduction and notes for the book. Zampano documents the Navidson Record which is about Will Navidson and his family. Navidson calls his brother Tom and a family friend, Billy Reston, to investigate a hallway that appears out of nowhere between two rooms. Once a labyrinth appears in the house,
In today’s world there are millions of people who grow up in situations that make them powerless. Poverty, violence, and drugs surround children from birth and force them to join the cycle. In L.B. Tillit’s Unchained a young boy named TJ grows up in this environment. With both his mother and father struggling with addiction, he is often left alone on the streets to fend for himself. He turns to a local gang for protection and a sense of place in Jr. High, but is quickly taken out of the life he knows when his father overdoses and dies. TJ is sent to live in a foster home where he learns to care for others and meets a girl and falls in love with her. However, when his mother regains custody of him, TJ is forced back into the gang where he uses violence and drug dealing to stay alive. With help from his foster care manager he soon realizes that he can make it out of his life and return to his foster home and the girl he loves. A central theme of Unchained is that people have the power to make decisions to determine their future.
Mitchell Stephens plays on our emotions in so many different ways in this novel. At first Stephens comes in almost like a hero, trying to find justice for these hurting people in the small town of. Stephens causes our perspective to change with his statement that “ there are no accidents. I don’t even know what the word means, and I never trust anyone who says he does.” “Someone must be to blame.”
Kate Morrison is a well educated, independent woman with a decent job, supportive boyfriend and family. Externally, Kate has a life that some people might envy of but, internally, she isn’t as stable as she seems. Crow Lake, a novel written by Mary Lawson, leads the readers to the protagonist, Kate Morrison and the struggles in her life. Kate loses her parents in her early age and for this reason she lives with her siblings with some help from her neighbours and other family members. Despite the absence of her parents, Kate and her siblings seem to grow well. Although there is some crisis in the family, they seem to be inevitable consequences of not having an adult in the family. However, Kate spends an innumerable amount of time accepting and letting go of the past and eventually it causes another crisis in her present life. She continuously has some kind of depression, and she does not realize that her depression is coming from herself, not from anything or anybody else. Crow Lake contains a great message that shows refusing to face the past affects your future negatively. We see ...
When Alice’s rape is discussed, Jane feels anxious and goes into panic attacks. During these attacks, Jane is in an unstable state of mind, and she cannot function properly. Normally, a teenage girl seeks out her mother for guidance in a time of need. However, in this situation, the mother/daughter roles are reversed, and Alice must comfort Jane. While Jane is having a difficult time with the rape, Alice had to step up and support her mother.
Suffering from the death of a close friend, the boy tries to ignore his feelings and jokes on his sister. His friend was a mental patient who threw himself off a building. Being really young and unable to cope with this tragedy, the boy jokes to his sister about the bridge collapsing. "The mention of the suicide and of the bridge collapsing set a depressing tone for the rest of the story" (Baker 170). Arguments about Raisinettes force the father to settle it by saying, "you will both spoil your lunch." As their day continues, their arguments become more serious and present concern for the father who is trying to understand his children better. In complete agreement with Justin Oeltzes’ paper, "A Sad Story," I also feel that this dark foreshadowing of time to come is an indication of the author’s direct intention to write a sad story.
It is the first time that Lizabeth hears a man cry. She could not believe herself because her father is “a strong man who could whisk a child upon his shoulders and go singing through the house.” As the centre of the family and a hero in her heart, Lizabeth’s dad is “sobbing like the tiniest child”She discovers that her parents are not as powerful or stable as she thought they were. The feeling of powerlessness and fear surges within her as she loses the perfect relying on her dad. She says, “the world had lost its boundary lines.” the “smoldering emotions” and “fear unleashed by my father’s tears” had “combined in one great impulse toward
In The Promised Land, Nicholas Lehmann follows the stories of black migrants, politicians, and bureaucrats through the Great Migration, and attempts to explain the decline of northern cities, the constant liberty struggle of blacks across America, and government response to the issues surrounding the Great Migration. This work signalled a drastic change from the structured approach of Thomas Sugrue’s, The Origins Of The Urban Crisis, which observes the effects of institutions and human agency on postwar Detroit and its marginalized peoples. Both Sugrue and Lemann had (albeit slightly different) holistic views of the political climate of postwar cities, which helped provide context for prejudices towards blacks and the poor, and subsequently
Nathaniel Hawthorne was an extraordinary writer, who used real life experiences in every one of his stories. However, growing up in a Puritan society during a reformation gave Hawthorne a distorted view on God’s character. Hawthorne was intelligent, but by no means a people person, which created a pathway for him to become an author. There were a few key points in his life growing in a religion zealous society that lead him to abandon his faith. Hence, the short story of “Young Goodman Brown” representing that humans are cynical and evil, and the dangers of losing your faith in God.
Young Goodman Brown is about a young, newly wedded man who leaves his wife, Faith, and to go on a journey into the forest one night. Young Goodman Brown has an innocent and maybe even naïve soul and was looked upon by townspeople as a “silly fellow” (Hawthorne 83). He is accompanied by a mysterious, older man who is later on revealed to be the devil. As they are walking, Young Goodman Brown tries to turn back several times and at one point succeeds in getting rid of the devil. However, when he sees that even his wife has surrendered to the same evil path that he was on, he stops resisting and continues into the forest. He ends up at a witches’ sabbath where he sees familiar faces of people whom he previously looked up to for spiritual guidance; he also finds Faith there and becomes devastated. In the end, he cries out to resist the devil and then wakes up to find himself alone in the forest.
Looking back on the death of Larissa’s son, Zebedee Breeze, Lorraine examines Larissa’s response to the passing of her child. Lorraine says, “I never saw her cry that day or any other. She never mentioned her sons.” (Senior 311). This statement from Lorraine shows how even though Larissa was devastated by the news of her son’s passing, she had to keep going. Women in Larissa’s position did not have the luxury of stopping everything to grieve. While someone in Lorraine’s position could take time to grieve and recover from the loss of a loved one, Larissa was expected to keep working despite the grief she felt. One of the saddest things about Zebedee’s passing, was that Larissa had to leave him and was not able to stay with her family because she had to take care of other families. Not only did Larissa have the strength to move on and keep working after her son’s passing, Larissa and other women like her also had no choice but to leave their families in order to find a way to support them. As a child, Lorraine did not understand the strength Larissa must have had to leave her family to take care of someone else’s
The Narrator’s family treats her like a monster by resenting and neglecting her, faking her death, and locking her in her room all day. The Narrator’s family resents her, proof of this is found when the Narrator states “[My mother] came and went as quickly as she could.
Early in the film , a psychologist is called in to treat the troubled child :and she calmed the mother with a statement to the effect that, “ These things come and go but they are unexplainable”. This juncture of the film is a starting point for one of the central themes of the film which is : how a fragile family unit is besieged by unusual forces both natural and supernatural which breaks and possesses and unites with the morally challenged father while the mother and the child through their innocence, love, and honesty triumph over these forces.
She continues in this sequel to talk about the abuse she faced and the dysfunction that surrounded her life as a child and as a teen, and the ‘empty space’ in which she lived in as a result. She talks about the multiple personalities she was exhibiting, the rebellious “Willie” and the kind “Carol”; as well as hearing noises and her sensory problems. In this book, the author puts more emphasis on the “consciousness” and “awareness” and how important that was for her therapeutic process. She could not just be on “auto-pilot” and act normal; the road to recovery was filled with self-awareness and the need to process all the pieces of the puzzle—often with the guidance and assistance of her therapist. She had a need to analyze the abstract concept of emotions as well as feelings and thoughts. Connecting with others who go through what she did was also integral to her
You could say that life was almost perfect for Mrs. Salmon before the tragedy happened. She had everything that anyone could ask for, a handsome young son and two beautiful mature daughters, and of course her awesome husband. But then it all went down hill from there, one day you have everything and then the next you have nothing. That is how it went for Mrs. Salmon, you kiss your children goodbye and wish them a good day at school, and then one of your daughters doesn't come back home. You start think on all the possible things that could of happened to he and of course you are freaking out. As Mrs. Salmon states “Could she just be a little late, maybe got hit by a car, or, no no no please no, please don't have her be dead.” As