The Shack: Chapter 5 Summary & Analysis

Unsure if the note is from God, a prankster, or even Missy’s killer, Mack nonetheless finds that he can’t stop thinking about it and decides to make plans to go to the shack the next weekend. Luckily, Nan decides to take the kids out to visit her family that weekend so that Kate can see her brother-in-law, a psychologist.

Mack asks his friend Willie if he can borrow Willie’s Jeep for the journey into the woods. Willie agrees, but insists on first learning what Mack is up to. Reluctantly, Mack shows him the note, and says that he thinks it might actually be from God—even though both men agree that such a communication doesn’t fit in with how they usually think about God.

Mack says that despite himself, he feels like the missive really could be from God. That’s in part because he’s desperate: he worries that he’s losing Kate, and that Missy’s death was punishment for what he did to his father.

Willie reluctantly lets Mack leave with the Jeep, but not before convincing him to take a gun. Willie is worried that Mack lied to Nan—the couple never keeps secrets from each other, he says. As Mack leaves, Willie says that he will pray for his friend, and Mack thinks that he needs all the prayers he can get.

Mack retraces the drive from a few years before, trying not to think of the previous visit to Multnomah falls and Missy’s disappearance. He feels as if he is driving straight into the heart of The Great Sadness, and the closer he gets, the more intense his desire to turn back.

Mack parks at the trailhead, about a mile from the shack itself. Panic overwhelms him, but so does a compulsion to push onwards. Shakily, he grabs the gun and a picture of Missy, thinking that at least if he dies those who find him will know he was thinking of her. Every rustle in the bushes feels like either a mortal threat or a sign of God himself. As he approaches the shack, it seems almost like a twisted, demonic face.

Mack enters the shack, which seems to be empty save for some old furniture. His eyes are drawn to a faded but still visible bloodstain near the fireplace. The sight of it fills him with anguish. He starts yelling and destroying the furniture, asking why God would bring him there and why he allowed Missy to die. He yells “I hate you!” and, touching the bloodstain, apologizes over and over again to Missy. Angry at God, he yells that God has never been there for him, even when he needed him most.

As The Great Sadness descends, Mack considers suicide, thinking that it would be a release from the pain and a final way to spite God. But he does not want to cause his family any more hurt. Rousing himself from the floor, tells God that he’s done trying to find him. Wearily, he starts back towards the car.

As Mack starts to walk away from the cabin, the snowy winter forest around him begins to transform: the snow melts and flowers and grasses begin to bloom. Within seconds, it looks like high spring and the air is heavy with the fragrance of flowers. He turns to see that the shack, too, has transformed into a beautiful log cabin. With mingled feelings of awe, fear, and, still, lingering anger, he approaches the cabin and prepares to knock.

Before he can knock, the door is swept open by a large African American woman who sweeps Mack into a hug. She tells him excitedly that she’s delighted to see him and that she loves him. Mack is in shock. He notices that her floral scent reminds him of his mother, and he feels tears welling up in his eyes. As he fights his emotions, she takes his gun and puts it aside.

Suddenly, a small Asian woman emerges and sweeps Mack’s tears into a small glass bottle. She gives him a sense of overwhelming warmth, but he finds it difficult to look at her directly, almost as if she is slightly transparent. She is dressed in gardening clothes. Behind her is a man in his thirties in work clothes who appears Middle Eastern. Mack finds his smile captivating.

Mack finds himself confused but also enchanted by the three strangers. The first introduces herself as Elousia, but she also says it might make sense to call her “Papa,” like Nan does. The man introduces himself, saying he enjoys working and fixing things. He has many names but goes by Jesus to many. The second woman introduces herself as Sarayu, keeper of the gardens. Mack is confused by the three people, who do not match his expectations of God—but then, he also wonders what those expectations are founded on. When he asks which one of them is God, they all say, “I am,” in unison. It makes a strange kind of sense to Mack.