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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does the narrator remember his grandfather doing?
(a) He started a mining business.
(b) He demanded stories from his guests.
(c) He had many lovers.
(d) He sailed around the world.

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

3. What does the narrator do when Zorba displays frustration with the miners?
(a) He fires Zorba.
(b) He leaves the mine without speaking.
(c) He fires several miners.
(d) He calls a lunch break.

4. What does Zorba think is the best way to run the mine?
(a) A voting system.
(b) Bonus awards.
(c) Cruel authority.
(d) Volunteer work.

5. What does the narrator's manuscript become for him?
(a) A blueprint for redesigning the mine.
(b) A war-like attempt to completely remove the prophet from his soul.
(c) A guideline for feeling comfortable in the Void.
(d) A meditation on finding true peace.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Zorba say that his 80 year-old grandmother wanted?

2. Who does Zorba suggest that the narrator romantically pursue?

3. Who reports that a widow has lost her sheep and is offering a reward for it?

4. What pact do the narrator and his best friend make before parting?

5. How does Zorba live his life?

Short Essay Questions

1. How might Madame Hortense's romantic history challenge Zorba's concept of his own manliness?

2. 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?

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

4. What does Zorba represent in the story?

5. What does Zorba do while in Candia?

6. Describe the narrator's relationship with his old friend.

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

8. How does Zorba's version of the devil living inside him compare to Zorba himself?

9. When Zorba encourages the narrator to be more like he is and pursue the widow, how does this contradict Zorba's other advice?

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

Multiple Choice Answer Key

Short Answer Key

1. What does Zorba say that his 80 year-old grandmother wanted?

She wanted to be serenaded.

2. Who does Zorba suggest that the narrator romantically pursue?

The widow.

3. Who reports that a widow has lost her sheep and is offering a reward for it?

Mimiko.

4. What pact do the narrator and his best friend make before parting?

They agree to telepathically warn one another of danger.

5. How does Zorba live his life?

He lives like every day is his last.

Short Essay Answer Key

1. How might Madame Hortense's romantic history challenge Zorba's concept of his own manliness?

Zorba believes in living for the day and that any impediment to freedom and manliness should be removed. Because he thinks sexual relationships are the ultimate in the physical life, he is helpless against the force of her own history. She has been romanced by legendary and powerful men, and Zorba cannot do anything to remove them as competitive forces from his own life. He offers to take on Canavaro's role in her life, but he has no power or awareness of how to actually fulfill that role.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. What does Zorba represent in the story?

Zorba represents a man who lives for the physical world and ultimately for the individual self in that world. He is an agent of instinct and lacks theoretical reason for his actions. For the narrator, Zorba is a potential symbol of freedom in the narrator's quest to find freedom.

5. 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.

6. Describe the narrator's relationship with his old friend.

The narrator and his friend have a deep connection and love for one another. However, the connection is largely unspoken as the two men often argue rather than express emotion to one another. The soldier friend is more of an adventurer than the narrator, and often teases the narrator for being such a bookworm. The two men contrast one another; the narrator is more of a philosopher who is focused on a higher power, while the friend is a soldier who believes in living his life for his fellow man and his nation. The connection between the two men, despite their differences, is clear in their agreement to send mental messages to one another if they sense danger. This obviously indicates that they believe strongly in their connection and friendship.

7. 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.

8. How does Zorba's version of the devil living inside him compare to Zorba himself?

Zorba says that the devil is a mirror image of himself. The only difference is that the devil refuses to grow old. He also wears a red carnation behind his ear.

9. When Zorba encourages the narrator to be more like he is and pursue the widow, how does this contradict Zorba's other advice?

Previously, Zorba told a parable about a crow who tries to walk like a pigeon, reinforcing his idea that one must remain true to his true and individual identity. Zorba's disappointment with the narrator when he is unable to be the man of sensuality that Zorba is, contradicts this parable to some extent.

10. 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.