Zorba the Greek Test | Mid-Book Test - Medium

This set of Lesson Plans consists of approximately 156 pages of tests, essay questions, lessons, and other teaching materials.

Zorba the Greek Test | Mid-Book Test - Medium

This set of Lesson Plans consists of approximately 156 pages of tests, essay questions, lessons, and other teaching materials.
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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. Who is the second person to offer the narrator and Zorba lodging in Crete?
(a) The local baker.
(b) The pharmacist.
(c) The monks.
(d) The village elder.

3. How does the narrator depict Madame Hortense?
(a) Dangerous.
(b) As intensely beautiful.
(c) Comically and unattractively.
(d) Witchy.

4. Zorba tells the narrator stories about the island. What kind of events does he describe?
(a) Wars and revolutions.
(b) Rape and thievery.
(c) Carnivals and circuses.
(d) Feasts and birthdays.

5. What does Zorba's gift prompt Madame Hortense to do?
(a) Start crying.
(b) Profess her love for Zorba.
(c) Leave the room.
(d) Talk about her love affairs.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is Zorba's response when the narrator asks him how many times he has been married?

2. What does Zorba indicate would be the worst thing the narrator could do to Anagnosti?

3. With what does the narrator begin to equate Buddha?

4. How does Zorba describe God?

5. What does the narrator remember his grandfather doing?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Zorba do while in Candia?

2. What reasons does Zorba give in Chapter 9 for so intensely wanting the narrator to go and sleep with the widow?

3. What does Zorba's version of God look like?

4. What feelings does Zorba express about religion?

5. Do you think the narrator has actually lost all interest and faith in poetry as he claims in Chapter 12? How so?

6. How does the narrator's memory of the butterfly impact his feelings about approaching the widow?

7. Discuss the two goals that the narrator sets for himself at the end of Chapter 4? How is this a shift from the beginning of the story?

8. At the conclusion of Chapter 2, do you think Zorba or the narrator has a more realistic outlook on how to live life?

9. When the narrator makes an attempt to get to know some of the mine workers, he begins to discuss socialism with them. Zorba does not like this. What are his reasons?

10. What significance does the fact that Madame Hortense is a widow have toward the theme of manliness?

Multiple Choice Answer Key

1. D
2. D
3. C
4. A
5. D

Short Answer Key

1. What is Zorba's response when the narrator asks him how many times he has been married?

Once honestly and twice half-honestly.

2. What does Zorba indicate would be the worst thing the narrator could do to Anagnosti?

Cast down his religion.

3. With what does the narrator begin to equate Buddha?

The Void and the end of civilization.

4. How does Zorba describe God?

He describes him as a crazier and wilder version of himself.

5. What does the narrator remember his grandfather doing?

He demanded stories from his guests.

Short Essay Answer Key

1. What does Zorba do while in Candia?

He meets a young girl with whom he has an affair. He also spends all of the boss's money.

2. What reasons does Zorba give in Chapter 9 for so intensely wanting the narrator to go and sleep with the widow?

He says that women need men to sleep with them and protect them; that it is a part of a greater plan. He says she will be ruined if a man does not go and sleep with her. He also says that not taking the opportunity to sleep with her is one sin that God will not forgive.

3. What does Zorba's version of God look like?

Zorba claims to be an atheist, but he does tell the narrator that God is likely a more outrageous version of himself for whom forgiveness is not difficult, and who does not want to be worshiped.

4. What feelings does Zorba express about religion?

Zorba claims to be an atheist. However, when it comes to the other villagers, Zorba believes that religion is not only important but is the center of their way of life. He warns the narrator that speaking against religion to the villagers is not wise as it is better for them than having no organized structure at all.

5. Do you think the narrator has actually lost all interest and faith in poetry as he claims in Chapter 12? How so?

No. When the narrator says of the Buddha, "I must mobilize words and their necromantic power...invoke magic rhythms; lay siege to him, cast a spell over him and drive him out of my entrails! I must throw over him the net of images, catch him and free myself!" he demonstrates a transformation in the way he sees poetry. He sees it less as contemplation and more as a physical act of using language. His use of the craft has changed, but it is untrue that he no longer has use for it as he so claims.

6. How does the narrator's memory of the butterfly impact his feelings about approaching the widow?

The narrator had attempted to help the butterfly emerge from the cocoon by blowing warm air on it. Doing this made the butterfly emerge too quickly and die. The narrator realizes while meditating on this memory, that an individual must "confidently obey the eternal rhythm." He knows, in turn, that he can't speed his relationship with the widow and must let it unfold naturally.

7. Discuss the two goals that the narrator sets for himself at the end of Chapter 4? How is this a shift from the beginning of the story?

The narrator wants to rid himself of Buddha and the abstract thinking that comes along with Buddha. He also wants to be completely present in the physical world of men. He has wanted to find this physicality since the beginning of the story when his old friend's words inspire him to seek such a life, and begin his journey to Crete. Originally, he was completely invested in philosophizing as well. However, the fact that he wants to exorcise Buddha from his thinking is a definite shift in his character.

8. At the conclusion of Chapter 2, do you think Zorba or the narrator has a more realistic outlook on how to live life?

I think that they have very different perspectives as distinct as two different languages. Zorba's outlook might be easier on a day-by-day basis as his doesn't require a lot of thinking through of various options and looks directly to instinct and passion. The narrator's perspective might be the more "realistic" however, in that it takes a much broader look at the many elements and their complex arrangements which come together to inform life.

9. When the narrator makes an attempt to get to know some of the mine workers, he begins to discuss socialism with them. Zorba does not like this. What are his reasons?

Zorba believes that supervising a workforce requires complete authority. He thinks it's better if they believe they have fewer rights and that workers who feel like they are equal to their bosses will eventually take rights away from their bosses.

10. What significance does the fact that Madame Hortense is a widow have toward the theme of manliness?

Madame Hortense is a character on whom Zorba and the narrator choose instantly to rely upon for shelter. The fact that she is completely devoid of Zorba's "manliness" (as a widowed woman) and has outlived her four great lovers, admirals who could be classified as the most manly of all men, speaks to a contrasting energy of freedom neither articulated by the narrator nor by Zorba.

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