How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
"'The head, ah! the head, of course, gone, but the curious part is there's some sort of method in his raving. I am trying to find out. Most unusual – the thread of logic in such a delirium.'" (5.16)
This passage describes the crazy crewman from the Patna who Marlow visits in the hospital, but it could really describe the novel itself. Jim and Marlow pretty much spend all their time narrating deliriously (and longwindedly) while Marlow (and we) try to find some threads of logic.
Quote #8
"A single word had stripped him of his discretion – of that discretion which is more necessary to the decencies of our inner being than clothing is to the decorum of our body." (6.24)
Speaking can be a dangerous thing in this book, especially if it means a character is revealing some sort of shameful secret, as Jim is here. Jim seems more interested in the truth than he is in discretion, or propriety, but in the stuffy British Empire, that might land him in a whole world of hot water. Here, we might imagine Marlow cringing on Jim's behalf, because the young sailor seems to have a problem with oversharing.
Quote #9
"The views he let me have of himself were like those glimpses through the shifting rents in a thick fog – bits of vivid and vanishing detail, giving no connected idea of the general aspect of the country." (6.30)
Despite the fact that elsewhere, Jim doesn't quite understand that there are some things he just shouldn't share, Marlow seems to think that in general Jim plays his cards close to the vest. Jim doesn't want to communicate too much of himself to Marlow, perhaps because he's ashamed of what Marlow might uncover.