How we cite our quotes: (Section.Paragraph)
Quote #10
I am only explaining why I was dissatisfied then and have been ever since. I speak of that only that you may understand why I have been impelled to try to tell the simple story over again (5.17)
Now we see why this memory is so important to the narrator: it's his first brush with death. His half-manufactured story is an attempt to reconcile such a horrible occurrence with his understanding of the world.