This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 12.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is one of the narrator's goals at the end of Chapter 4?
(a) He wants to forget about Buddha.
(b) He wants to learn to meditate.
(c) He wants to grow his hair long.
(d) He wants to improve his vocabulary.

2. How does Zorba live his life?
(a) He reads books that instruct him how to live.
(b) He lives like every day is his last.
(c) He trusts that other people will show him how to live.
(d) He moves about suspecting that everyone wants to hurt him.

3. In a letter to his friend, what does the narrator say his friend inspired him to do?
(a) Go to university.
(b) Join a circus.
(c) Pursue a life of physical action.
(d) Get married.

4. How does Zorba treat women for the most part?
(a) He is physically abusive.
(b) He acts as a servant to them.
(c) He belittles them in public.
(d) He is mostly very kind.

5. Where is the narrator sitting and thinking at the beginning of the story?
(a) In a bar.
(b) At work.
(c) On the beach.
(d) In his bedroom.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the primary message in the book that the narrator is reading?

2. What happens to Zorba that he believes to be a terrible omen?

3. What makes the narrator want the widow even more?

4. What happens at the mine in Chapter 9?

5. Zorba tells the narrator stories about the island. What kind of events does he describe?

Multiple Choice Questions Key

Short Answer Questions Key

1. What is the primary message in the book that the narrator is reading?

It emphasizes the virtue of possessing nothing.

2. What happens to Zorba that he believes to be a terrible omen?

A priest crosses his path.

3. What makes the narrator want the widow even more?

He has a brush with death.

4. What happens at the mine in Chapter 9?

It collapses.

5. Zorba tells the narrator stories about the island. What kind of events does he describe?

Wars and revolutions.