CHAPTER V CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION
This chapter is divided into two parts. The first part contains the conclusion of the whole analysis of WM. Paul Young’s The Shack. The second part
covers the suggestions for further research and some implementations for teaching.
A. Conclusion
Having analyzed the novel The Shack by WM. Paul Young, it can be concluded that before and during the Great Sadness, Mack is an ordinary, not-so-
religious, reflective, and angry man. He is ordinary because he has a typical appearance for an American man. Mack also has a unique relationship with God, such
a love-hate relationship. Then, Mack is a reflective man, but it can be only seen by people who know him well enough, or at least by people who had the chance to talk
to him. The last, Mack is an angry person, in term of his relationship with God. It happens because Mack has a bad childhood memory, and also because he misses his
daughter, Missy. However, after the shack, when the Great Sadness is finally gone, Mack turns into someone who is truly different. He is still ordinary, but now he is
self-actualized, joyful, and also full of hope. He can actualize himself and also actualize others, including his wife Nan, and his daughter Kate. Mack’s life also
becomes full of joy, because he can forgive his father, so there is no regret inside
56
Mack anymore. The last, Mack hopes. He now relies on God, instead of making enemy with Him.
Through a deep analysis, it is found that Mack reacts in a very human attitude toward the death of Missy, his daughter. Mack reacts by keeping himself
calm and strong so that the rest of the family can realize that they still have hope, and so that the family can accept Missy’s gone. Although Mack appears to be calm and
strong, it can be seen that actually Mack himself has his own human needs to be fulfilled in term of Missy’s death. Missy’s death brings Mack to the reality that he
still has needs that are not yet fulfilled. His decision to come to the shack and meet God is a choice to fulfill his human needs.
The story of Mack is a story that everybody has. People often blame God for terrible things which happen in their lives, the same as Mack. How people deal
with it is the main idea that determine the result of the struggle. The problem is, God does not come to people in such a way. It would be so unfair if God came only for
Mack to release him from the burden. So, the experience of God and Mack in the shack has to be seen as a spiritual experience, which means God is involved, but not
in the way written in the novel. Actually the person that Mack meets in the shack is Mack himself. The shack itself is a process for Mack to regain his human needs, as
proposed by Maslow. The book The Shack itself is a great book. It shows the reader a unique
way to deal with a problem, since the problem that the book provides is the problem that people usually have within their daily lives. The book teaches the reader to
appreciate him or herself, appreciate others, and appreciate relationships between him or her and others.
B. Suggestions
Kategori