-The Garden: The garden is showing the diversity and complications of human emotions. Mack is so focused on what had happened to the point where he doesn’t realize the beauty that surrounds him.”Your question presumes that poison is bad, that such creations have no purpose. Many of these so-called bad plants, like this one, contain incredible properties for healing or are necessary for some of the most magnificent sonders when combined with something else. Humans have a great capacity for declaring something good or evil, without truly knowing.” This is when Sarayu is indirectly comparing emotions to the wild flowers and other plants.
-The waterfalls:“Sweetheart, Jesus didn’t think his Daddy was mean. He thought his Daddy was full of love and loved him very much. His Daddy didn’t make him die. Jesus chose to die because he and his Daddy love you and me and everyone in the world. He saved us from our sickness, like the princess.” The waterfall is actually a representation of sacrifice because of love. Mack told his daughter about an Native princess who sacrificed herself to save others. This is also referencing to Jesus. He sacrificed himself to save others. So in this book they are taking the waterfalls and making them show how people will sacrifice themselves to save other people.
-The Shack: The shack is a representation of Mack’s hard place. The shack is like the bad thoughts that consume him. The shack is put out there to be a reference of Mack going back to the shack to “confront” his inner demons.
-Sarayu’s bottle of tears: She mentions that she collects tears of peoples pains, sadness, and happiness. She then takes the bottle and pours it into the garden showing how happiness will expand overtime. All happiness starts with a tear.
The Shack by: WM Paul Young 