In the foreword to "The Shack," Mack is depicted as a nondescript, middle-aged white man unlikely to be noticed in a crowd, but the reader immediately learns that the father of four is actually anything but nondescript under the surface. A complicated protagonist, Mack's life experiences appear fraught with tragedy and drama right up to the point that the reader joins his story and quickly learns of Mack's most recent and greatest tragedy of all.
Referred to infrequently in the book as Elousia but the rest of the time as Papa, the character of God the Father is consistently referenced with the feminine "she" pronoun throughout. Physically, Elousia/Papa is the impressive presence of a large black woman who is at once sensitive and powerful, always multiple steps ahead of Mack as she directs his journey to understanding without forcing him faster than his own pace will allow. Elousia/Papa consistently navigates the delicate balance between guiding Mack to and through his toughest emotions and refusing to let him collapse under the tremendous weight of his grief.
Described in "The Shack" as looking Middle Eastern and being slightly smaller than Mack himself, the character called Jesus confirms in a conversation to Mack that he is in fact the Hebrew Jesus from the Israeli tribe of Judah. Young's Jesus is depicted in casual jeans and a plaid shirt and with a saw-dusty appearance mirroring the biblical account that Jesus was a carpenter by trade. Since Young's Jesus speaks directly to Mack throughout the book on theological principles, critics take issue with the author putting actual words into the mouth of a character that is considered non-fictional by many religions.
Young's character Sarayu is depicted as the Holy Spirit in human form. In an effort to give the reader a sense of Sarayu's intended ethereal presence, she is described as a small, distinctively Asian woman with a shimmering quality that makes her difficult to be seen clearly. Mack finds her easier to focus on when he looks at her peripherally instead of directly, suggesting that the Holy Spirit is more clearly sensed with intuition and the heart than the eyes.