“The Journal of Thomas Thurber” is the companion story of “August in the Forest” and clarifies the mysteries of the preceding narrative. August encounters the unresolved Fog River mystery in the museum, and although he does discover the location where the loggers died under mysterious circumstances, he never uncovers the truth about what happened to the men. In this story, Shattuck delves into this mystery, offering the reader access to the loggers’ lives and deaths. This stylistic choice invites the reader into the seemingly irretrievable past and reiterates The Clarifying Power of History. Via the personal writings of Thomas Thurber, Shattuck explores a discrete temporal era and examines the conflicts and circumstances that led to the loggers’ fates. Historical documents, the story’s subtext implies, offer insight into the present.

This story also marries the epistolary and journalistic forms, which grant the reader access to Thomas’s private interiority and the intricacies of his world. The short story is written in a series of dated entries from Thomas’s personal diary. In some entries, Thomas simply describes the events of the day as if he were writing for himself, while in other entries, he addresses his thoughts to his absent wife Isabelle. This formal aspect of the short story lends Thomas’s narrative an intimate, confessional mood. Although Thomas is surrounded by other men, he doesn’t have close relationships with them. He therefore doesn’t share his thoughts or feelings with his companions; the journal is thus an organic way for Thomas to express his thoughts and for the reader to access his story. At the same time, Thomas’s journal captures Art as a Form of Expression and Communication. Thomas may not regard himself as an artist, as he contends that he’s simply fulfilling “this assignment [Isabelle has] given [him]” (165), but his words will soon become a historical artifact. The short story’s subtext thus implies that any form of personal accounting and/or storytelling is a form of art. Thomas is cataloging his experiences in a remote setting, translating the finite textures of being a New England logger in the early 20th century in a way an outsider wouldn’t be able to accomplish; this act of translation is a form of observation, expression, communication, and creation.

The short story also interrogates The Ethics of Storytelling as Thomas embeds Winslow’s story within his own. Winslow is a facet of Thomas’s life, and what he does to James is therefore an important plot point in Thomas’s experience. However, because Winslow feels betrayed and exploited by Thomas (and convinced that his writing will implicate him in James’s murder), he takes justice into his own hands and poisons Thomas and the other men. While Winslow’s actions are hyperbolic, they reiterate the possibly negative consequences of recording another individual’s story without his permission and emphasize the betrayal that Winslow felt.