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

Short Answer Questions

1. Which of her lovers' names does Madame Hortense's parrot repeat?

2. In a letter to the narrator, Zorba indicates that he has a devil living inside of him who is like Zorba in every way except what?

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

4. Why does Zorba say he removed the body part?

5. To whom does the narrator's soldier friend say his greatest actions will be owed credit?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the painting that Zorba presents to Madame Hortense.

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

3. What is Zorba's account of God's creation of woman?

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

5. Describe the narrator's memory of his old friend while on their visit to the museum.

6. Describe the first time that the narrator sees the widow.

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. What kinds of responsibilities does Zorba take on at the initiation of his friendship with the narrator.

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

10. What does Zorba represent in the story?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The narrator's intention in the Buddha Manuscript shifts throughout the course of the novel.

Part 1) What does the manuscript begin as, and what does it become? What instigates the change in the narrator's intention?

Part 2) Do you think the narrator achieves his revised goal or his original goal with the finished product?

Part 3) Zorba constantly reinforces that living in the physical world is living in the mystery.

• Do you think that language is physical?

• Could the narrator have created a physical change in his life simply by writing the Buddha Manuscript?

Essay Topic 2

Zorba has a complex relationship with the female sex. The narrator regards him as misogynistic, but he, at times, seems to afford women more freedoms than the average villager.

Part 1) Under what category of his "marriages" would Zorba's relationship with Madame Hortense fall under? Why?

• How does Zorba treat her differently than the other villagers do?

• Does his treatment of her fall in line with his claim that women have less moral strength than men?

Part 2) Zorba tells a story of his brother threatening to kill his daughter for becoming pregnant out of wedlock upon which he offers no opinion. He also reveals that to his greatest love he was only "half-honestly" married.

• Do you think Zorba is a misogynist?

• How does his behavior with women deviate from traditional values?

• Does this make him less of a misogynist?

• Do any of his behaviors make him more "free"?

Part 3) How does Zorba's description of Zeus, the overworked love slave, contradict his misogyny? Does it support it?

Essay Topic 3

Zorba describes sex as the essence of paradise and not at all an impediment to gaining "freedom." Simultaneously, he describes man as a servant sent to please women sexually.

Part 1) Is Zorba's description of Zeus, a creature beaten to sexual exhaustion in his service to women, mutually exclusive to his claims of manly freedom or are they indeed one and the same?

Part 2) The narrator uses less aggression when approaching women, yet he's able to use some of Zorba's advice to good result. Do you think the teacher or the student better masters Zorba's twofold theory on sexuality?

Short Answer Key

1. Which of her lovers' names does Madame Hortense's parrot repeat?

Canavaro.

2. In a letter to the narrator, Zorba indicates that he has a devil living inside of him who is like Zorba in every way except what?

It refuses to grow old.

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

Once honestly and twice half-honestly.

4. Why does Zorba say he removed the body part?

It got in the way of his pottery.

5. To whom does the narrator's soldier friend say his greatest actions will be owed credit?

Rembrandt's "Warrior."

Short Essay Answer Key

1. Describe the painting that Zorba presents to Madame Hortense.

The painting has four huge battleships on it in red, gold, gray, and black, each with a flag from one of four countries: England, France, Italy, and Russia. Leading the battleship as a siren was Madame Hortense, naked with a yellow ribbon around her neck and holding four strings attached to the ships.

2. 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.

3. What is Zorba's account of God's creation of woman?

Zorba says that when God removed the rib from Adam, the devil turned into a snake and snatched the rib and ran off with it. God then chased the devil and caught him, but the devil ultimately got away while God was left holding only his horns. God then made woman out of the devil's horns rather than the rib of Adam.

4. 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.

5. Describe the narrator's memory of his old friend while on their visit to the museum.

The narrator's old friend told him of his love for a painting by Rembrandt; a painting he says he will owe his greatest accomplishments to. As they are leaving the museum, they see a bird land on a statue of an Amazon and begin singing. The narrator asks what it might mean, and the friend recites a few lines that encourage the narrator not to bother himself with such thoughts.

6. Describe the first time that the narrator sees the widow.

The narrator and Zorba duck into a cafe in the middle of a rainstorm, and from here, they see the widow run past the window. The narrator immediately finds her beautiful, although there are a variety of responses to her presence, not all of them positive. Soon after, Mimiko enters and reports that the widow has lost her sheep and offers a reward to anyone who can help return it to her.

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. What kinds of responsibilities does Zorba take on at the initiation of his friendship with the narrator.

Zorba agrees to act as foreman of the lignite mine. He also promises to cook the narrator soup and play him music on his santuri.

9. 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.

10. 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.