Chapter 23 Summary

Zorba has a portentous dream, and on waking learns that Madame Hortense is dying. Zorba and the narrator tend to her as dirge singers wait impatiently for the old woman to pass, so they can loot her possessions. When the time comes, Zorba gently closes his fiancye's eyes and goes outside to be alone. As the festival season continues, though, he meets with well-wishers, who try to cheer him up. Zorba joins them in feasting but refuses to be consoled. Meanwhile, Anagnosti brings officials to inventory Madame Hortense's goods to be distributed to the poor and must chase off the dirge singers and other thieves. Zorba adopts Hortense's parrot, and he and the narrator watch as her body is taken away.

Chapter 23 Analysis

Chapters 22 and 23 display the effects of Zorba's mode of life on more serious situations. Though he is no longer the...