This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. At the feast at Noussa's house, what does Zorba say happened after he gave the toast?
(a) An orgy.
(b) An extravagant meal.
(c) A concert.
(d) A candle lighting ceremony.

2. Who does the narrator hire to help him mine lignite on the island?
(a) Crete.
(b) His best friend.
(c) Zorba.
(d) Santuri.

3. What is the ultimate physical experience for Zorba?
(a) Mining.
(b) Sex.
(c) Playing a musical instrument.
(d) Going to war.

4. What does Zorba do when he hears his boss talking to the workmen?
(a) He tells his boss that they are lazy.
(b) He throws his boss out of the mine.
(c) He asks his boss to get them lunch.
(d) He asks his boss to record the men's work hours.

5. What is the name of the new friend the narrator makes at the beginning of the novel?
(a) Zorba.
(b) Santuri.
(c) The Devil.
(d) Crete.

Short Answer Questions

1. As the narrator gets to know the mine workers, what does he talk to them about?

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

3. What incident on the beach mellows the narrator's restlessness?

4. What does Zorba promise the narrator upon the initiation of their friendship?

5. How does Zorba treat women for the most part?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe Zorba's categories of marriage and how many of each he's experienced.

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

3. How does the narrator try to get the widow out of his mind at the beginning of Chapter 10?

4. Describe Zorba's only account of his heart being broken.

5. In Chapter 3, how are the relationships between men and women on Crete exhibited?

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

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

8. Describe the narrator's counter argument to Zorba's connection between manliness and freedom regarding his missing finger?

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

10. What does Karayannis's letter from Africa remind the narrator that he has always wanted to do?

Multiple Choice Answer Key

Short Answer Key

1. As the narrator gets to know the mine workers, what does he talk to them about?

Socialist ideas.

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

The Void and the end of civilization.

3. What incident on the beach mellows the narrator's restlessness?

He accidentally kills a butterfly.

4. What does Zorba promise the narrator upon the initiation of their friendship?

He promises to cook him soup and play him music.

5. How does Zorba treat women for the most part?

He is mostly very kind.

Short Essay Answer Key

1. Describe Zorba's categories of marriage and how many of each he's experienced.

Zorba says he's been married "honestly," "half-honestly," and "dishonestly." He says that he's been married "honestly" or legally only once. He says that he's been "half-honestly" married, or in relationships similar to marriage that were not made formal and legal with a wedding, two times. He says that he's been "dishonestly" married a thousand times, and by this he is referring to every sexual encounter he's ever had.

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. How does the narrator try to get the widow out of his mind at the beginning of Chapter 10?

The narrator views the widow as a temptation of the Evil One and focuses on writing his Buddha Manuscript in order to exorcise her image and the lust he feels for her from his mind. To him, his writing is comparable to the force of savages facing beasts with their spears.

4. Describe Zorba's only account of his heart being broken.

Zorba met a woman named Noussa ten days after leaving the village of his previous lover. Noussa invited him to her house for a feast at which Zorba gave a toast. After this, the lights went out and a massive orgy began. He lost Noussa in the midst of the orgy but found her the next day, and they remained together for 6 months. She then eloped with a soldier and broke Zorba's heart.

5. In Chapter 3, how are the relationships between men and women on Crete exhibited?

In the beginning of the chapter, the narrator's encounter with the young women in the country exhibits the historical impact of war and violence on the male/female relationship. They are immediately frightened of him as a stranger, and so their encounter is stunted. Mavrandoni's offer to let the men stay in his house to avoid the scandal of staying with a woman also exhibits a level of division and acceptable interaction between men and women.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. Describe the narrator's counter argument to Zorba's connection between manliness and freedom regarding his missing finger?

The narrator argues that although such passions are admirable, they could also possibly lead to the desire to remove more crucial body parts. He suggests that Zorba might eventually want to remove his sexual organs, which would have a much more life-altering and drastic result.

9. 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.

10. What does Karayannis's letter from Africa remind the narrator that he has always wanted to do?

He has a desire to see and touch as much of the world as he possibly can before he dies.