This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. When she dies, who brings the officials to inventory Madame Hortense's belongings?

2. What does the narrator promise to binge on so that he no longer desires it?

3. Who attempts to cheer Zorba up following the death of Hortense?

4. What language does Zorba teach the narrator in chapter 25?

5. For what action is Zorba trying to make up for by his actions in Chapter 18?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Zaharia say he became a monk?

2. How does the narrator describe eternity in Chapter 15?

3. What evidence of artistic inspiration does the narrator find in the ruins of the old city? How does he feel when he sees it?

4. What does the narrator state is the reason for Zaharia's death?

5. In Chapter 16, what did the sleeping workmen do who when they heard Zorba playing his Santuri?

6. After the widow's murder, what happens when Zorba and Manolakas meet near the widow's garden?

7. What does Zorba say about women when the narrator reveals that he has proposed to Madame Hortense on his behalf?

8. What does Zorba say about the act of crying when Madame Hortense dies?

9. In his third theory of religion, what does the bishop give as God's reason for sending religion to the masses?

10. What might be the significance of the narrator inheriting the Santuri?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Dualism is an important part of Zorba the Greek. Wherever one theory or way of being is presented, a counter theory exists.

Part 1) When the villagers kill the widow, how are they subverting Zorba's definition of women?

• Which of the two ways of thinking is more accurate?

• How might these extremes support the author's overall intention?

Part 2) How do Zorba and Hortense view their relationship to one another?

• Does Hortense's view of her own past match the way Zorba recounts her history?

• Does Zorba see himself as the partner to her that she sees in him?

• How do their opposing views ultimately affect their relationship?

• Why is she so fixated on marrying Zorba?

Part 3) Do you think that the Buddha has been completed or destroyed for the narrator at the end of the story?

Essay Topic 2

The narrator's intuition is a powerful asset which returns to him over and over as a sort of interface between the mind, body, and soul.

Part 1) Describe how the narrator's intuition works when he fabricates a letter from Zorba to Madame Hortense.

• How is he able to come up with Zorba's private terms of endearment?

• Do you think this level of intuition is more an act of the mind, the body, the soul, or some combination of the three?

Part 2) Do you think Zorba or the narrator is the more intuitive man?

• Taking into account their respective histories, what elements might have developed intuition more in one character or the other?

• Is intuition a product of being physically present or might it have developed as compensation for indulgence in a life of books?

Part 3) The narrator also exercises his intuition when he foresees Stavridaki's peril. Look for other instances in which the narrator seems to sense reality.

• How are these different from the way that Zorba considers reality?

• Does the narrator become more or less intuitive as the novel progresses?

• Does Zorba impact this characteristic in him?

Essay Topic 3

Several occurrences dovetail into the final exorcism of the Buddha.

Part 1) The death of Madame Hortense coincides with the narrator's affair with the widow and his completion of the manuscript.

• How might Hortense's death symbolize the death of the Buddha? Was Hortense physically present in life?

• Could her fantasies about past lovers and her role as a siren be categorized as a part of the "Void"?

• What kind of symbolic import does the looting of her belongings have on the theme of the Buddha?

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Part 2) Zorba ultimately encourages the narrator to pursue the widow. Describe the outcome of the physical intimacy.

• Do you believe that physical intimacy could free the narrator from his philosophizing?

• Does the narrator adopt Zorba's ideas about physical intimacy? Should he?

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Part 3) Do you think the narrator is completely finished with the Buddha when he finishes the manuscript? Provide evidence to support your answer.

Short Answer Key

1. When she dies, who brings the officials to inventory Madame Hortense's belongings?

Anagnosti.

2. What does the narrator promise to binge on so that he no longer desires it?

Books.

3. Who attempts to cheer Zorba up following the death of Hortense?

The festival-goers.

4. What language does Zorba teach the narrator in chapter 25?

Dance.

5. For what action is Zorba trying to make up for by his actions in Chapter 18?

Spending all of the narrator's money in Candia.

Short Essay Answer Key

1. Why does Zaharia say he became a monk?

He says poverty led him to become a monk. He was hungry and knew that if he went into the monastery there would be no way he could starve.

2. How does the narrator describe eternity in Chapter 15?

He describes it as being each minute that passes.

3. What evidence of artistic inspiration does the narrator find in the ruins of the old city? How does he feel when he sees it?

The narrator finds a partially finished jar carved from stone and a chisel on the ground nearby. This fills him with bitterness as he realizes the artistic inspiration has been defeated.

4. What does the narrator state is the reason for Zaharia's death?

The narrator says that Zaharia has fulfilled his main passion and purpose and has therefore accomplished everything that life would ask of him, so he can die.

5. In Chapter 16, what did the sleeping workmen do who when they heard Zorba playing his Santuri?

They got up, circled around him and began dancing to the music he played.

6. After the widow's murder, what happens when Zorba and Manolakas meet near the widow's garden?

Manolakas challenges Zorba to a knife fight after having been beaten previously. Zorba tells him he will fight without weapons. Then the narrator intervenes and talks them down from fighting at all. They end up all drinking together.

7. What does Zorba say about women when the narrator reveals that he has proposed to Madame Hortense on his behalf?

Zorba says that women are delicate creatures and are unable to handle such jokes.

8. What does Zorba say about the act of crying when Madame Hortense dies?

He says that he isn't ashamed to cry in front of men because of the unity they share. He says that crying in front of women is different because it is a man's job to prove his courage when before women.

9. In his third theory of religion, what does the bishop give as God's reason for sending religion to the masses?

He says that God sent religion as an act of mercy for the masses in order that they might experience living in "eternity." The bishop believes that only a few people on earth are able to live an eternity during their natural lives on earth.

10. What might be the significance of the narrator inheriting the Santuri?

The Santuri, Zorba's musical instrument, was one of the symbols in the story of the expression of emotion outside of words. Zorba plays the Santuri in the story when he is happy. The fact that the story ends with the Santuri in the narrator's possession is an indication that he has grown closer to reaching his goal, that of a marriage between the body and spirit, and that he has attained some level of the sought after "freedom."