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

Short Answer Questions

1. How does the narrator respond to the bishop's theories on religion?

2. Why does the narrator feel like he can forget about the Enlightened One?

3. What does Madame Hortense want from Zorba in Chapter 19?

4. In pleasing Madame Hortense, to whom does Zorba compare himself?

5. For what do the villagers gather to watch in Chapter 20?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the irony of Zorba comparing himself to Zeus in Chapter 19?

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

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

4. As the narrator watches Zorba comfort Madame Hortense on her death bed with the others eagerly awaiting her death, what does he compare the scene to?

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

6. How did Zaharia appear when he was found dead?

7. What two major shifts happen to the narrator in Chapter 21? What major realization do these shifts spur in the narrator.

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

9. What story does Zorba tell in Chapter 20 that supports the theme that appearance creates reality?

10. Why does Anagnosti say that Pavli is blessed?

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

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 3

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?

Short Answer Key

1. How does the narrator respond to the bishop's theories on religion?

"Those theories may save many souls."

2. Why does the narrator feel like he can forget about the Enlightened One?

He has finished his Buddha Manuscript.

3. What does Madame Hortense want from Zorba in Chapter 19?

To be married immediately.

4. In pleasing Madame Hortense, to whom does Zorba compare himself?

Zeus.

5. For what do the villagers gather to watch in Chapter 20?

Zorba celebrates the beginning of the railway construction.

Short Essay Answer Key

1. What is the irony of Zorba comparing himself to Zeus in Chapter 19?

Zorba says that he is like Zeus in that he sacrifices his own self in order to bring women happiness. This is ironic because Zeus is traditionally considered to be lecherous towards women.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. As the narrator watches Zorba comfort Madame Hortense on her death bed with the others eagerly awaiting her death, what does he compare the scene to?

The narrator first compares the scene to a huge exotic bird with a broken wing that has fallen and is dying on the beach, with all of the villagers standing around watching for entertainment. Then he compares Madame Hortense to other animals as well, like an "old angora cat" and "a sick old seal."

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. How did Zaharia appear when he was found dead?

He was found shaven bald and pierced with the spear of the Holy Virgin of Revenge.

7. What two major shifts happen to the narrator in Chapter 21? What major realization do these shifts spur in the narrator.

The narrator finally sleeps with the widow, which Zorba has been encouraging him to do for some time. The narrator also finishes the Buddha Manuscript and with it, has the realization that he has exorcised the Buddha from himself. These two shifts make it clear to the narrator that "the soul is flesh as well," or in other words the actions of his body are just as important and spiritual as the meditating and thinking to which he is accustomed.

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

He describes it as being each minute that passes.

9. What story does Zorba tell in Chapter 20 that supports the theme that appearance creates reality?

Zorba tells a story in which his grandfather takes a piece of wood, calls it part of the True Cross, and declares that it will protect the soldier to whom he gifts it from all harm in battle. The soldier then becomes a brave and invincible warrior simply because he believes that he has nothing to fear.

10. 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.