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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What painting does Zorba present to Madame Hortense?
(a) A painting of her as a siren leading battleships.
(b) A portrait of the two of them in front of a castle.
(c) A portrait of the two of them in a garden.
(d) A painting of her as a goddess.

2. What reason does Zorba give for having attacked his old boss?
(a) He offers no excuse or reason.
(b) He says the man tried to assault him first.
(c) He claims the man kissed his girlfriend.
(d) He says the man cheated him.

3. Why does Zorba suggest that the narrator should burn his library?
(a) Because the books are romantic.
(b) Because the books are unrelated to mining.
(c) Because the books are religious.
(d) Because his books don't celebrate nature enough.

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

5. How does Zorba live his life?
(a) He moves about suspecting that everyone wants to hurt him.
(b) He lives like every day is his last.
(c) He reads books that instruct him how to live.
(d) He trusts that other people will show him how to live.

Short Answer Questions

1. How many places does Zorba set the dinner table for on their first night on Crete?

2. What does Zorba promise the narrator upon the initiation of their friendship?

3. Why does the narrator say that the sexual organs may get in the way of freedom?

4. What act has Zorba performed that symbolizes the connection between freedom and manliness?

5. What does the narrator remember his grandfather doing?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Karayannis's letter from Africa remind the narrator that he has always wanted to do?

2. Do you think Zorba's description of dance as a language is accurate? In other words, does the narrator understand what Zorba means by his erratic dancing?

3. Describe Zorba's categories of marriage and how many of each he's experienced.

4. What does Zorba represent in the story?

5. How does the narrator reveal that he is like his grandfather?

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

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

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

9. At the conclusion of Chapter 2, do you think Zorba or the narrator has a more realistic outlook on how to live life?

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. How many places does Zorba set the dinner table for on their first night on Crete?

3

2. What does Zorba promise the narrator upon the initiation of their friendship?

He promises to cook him soup and play him music.

3. Why does the narrator say that the sexual organs may get in the way of freedom?

He says that being promiscuous can keep a man from going to heaven.

4. What act has Zorba performed that symbolizes the connection between freedom and manliness?

He cut part of his finger off because it got in the way of his pottery.

5. What does the narrator remember his grandfather doing?

He demanded stories from his guests.

Short Essay Answer Key

1. What does Karayannis's letter from Africa remind the narrator that he has always wanted to do?

He has a desire to see and touch as much of the world as he possibly can before he dies.

2. Do you think Zorba's description of dance as a language is accurate? In other words, does the narrator understand what Zorba means by his erratic dancing?

Zorba says that he had so much joy that he had to let it out somehow and dancing was the best way to let the explosion loose. The dancing reminds the narrator of a story he made up about how his grandfather died. He told friends that the old man bounced on rubber shoes until he disappeared into the clouds. This does exhibit some understanding. The narrator associates the dancing with a great release of energy although he cannot clearly name it.

3. Describe Zorba's categories of marriage and how many of each he's experienced.

Zorba says he's been married "honestly," "half-honestly," and "dishonestly." He says that he's been married "honestly" or legally only once. He says that he's been "half-honestly" married, or in relationships similar to marriage that were not made formal and legal with a wedding, two times. He says that he's been "dishonestly" married a thousand times, and by this he is referring to every sexual encounter he's ever had.

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. How does the narrator reveal that he is like his grandfather?

He remembers his grandfather demanding that guests tell him their personal stories of adventure so that he could experience the thrill through their stories. This is similar to the narrator in that the adventures for both occur removed from the action and inside the head and ideas of the two.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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.

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.