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

Short Answer Questions

1. Why does Zorba refuse to sleep with Madame Hortense in Chapter 19?

2. What is the narrator's topic of conversation with the Mother Superior?

3. What does Zorba say prompted him to quit the army?

4. Who does Zorba claim was Hortense's greatest lover?

5. What good omen marks the narrator and Zorba's morning on the day work is to begin on the railway?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the monastery bishop's first theory on religion.

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

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

4. How are Zorba's final moments described?

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

6. Why does Zaharia say he became a monk?

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

8. Describe what happened while Zorba was at war that changed his mind about judging a person based on nationality.

9. Why does Anagnosti say that Pavli is blessed?

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

A constant struggle in the novel exists between what is fated and what is the result of enacted will.

Part 1) How do the narrator and Zorba differ on the topic of fate? Does either one think that fate can be altered?

Part 2) How does his opinion on fate impact the way the narrator handles his relationship with the widow? What is Zorba's opinion on this?

Part 3) Zorba indicates that he believes all men fall into the marriage "trap" eventually. He also speaks of men and women's particular and inborn flaws. Would these opinions be relegations to fate, or would they, by Zorba's law, be things that an active will could prevent?

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

The santuri instrument is an important symbol throughout the novel. It is one of many modes of expression between the two main characters.

Part 1) What does the santuri symbolize in terms of language?

Part 2) What is the significance of the fact that Zorba brags about his talent on the instrument yet will only play it when he's in the mood?

Part 3) Why do you think the santuri is the object left to the narrator when Zorba dies?

Short Answer Key

1. Why does Zorba refuse to sleep with Madame Hortense in Chapter 19?

It is lent.

2. What is the narrator's topic of conversation with the Mother Superior?

Eternity.

3. What does Zorba say prompted him to quit the army?

Seeing the orphans of a priest he killed.

4. Who does Zorba claim was Hortense's greatest lover?

Zorba.

5. What good omen marks the narrator and Zorba's morning on the day work is to begin on the railway?

White flowers blooming outside their window.

Short Essay Answer Key

1. Describe the monastery bishop's first theory on religion.

He believes that the shape of a flower influences its color and its color then has an influence on its properties which in turn produce a specific effect on humans. He summarizes this theory with the belief that men should be careful when walking through fields of flowers because of the peculiar effects the flowers are having on them.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. How are Zorba's final moments described?

Zorba dies howling and laughing like an animal.

5. 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.

6. 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.

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

He describes it as being each minute that passes.

8. Describe what happened while Zorba was at war that changed his mind about judging a person based on nationality.

While at war, Zorba murdered a Bulgarian priest who had been invading Greek villages and killing Greeks. Later, when Zorba sees the orphans of the priest, he realizes that nationality doesn't matter. Rather, "good" and "bad" are the only important classifications to consider.

9. Why does Anagnosti say that Pavli is blessed?

Pavli commits suicide by drowning, and Anagnosti says that he is blessed because he is free from the object of his desire, the widow. Anagnosti claims that Pavli could not have lived happily with or without her because he had so much passion for her but now he is at peace.

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."