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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does the narrator come across while walking on the mountain path?
(a) The ruins of a Minoan city.
(b) An ancient inscribed tablet.
(c) A human skeleton.
(d) A cave.

2. After receiving a letter from his friend in Chapter 25, who does the narrator warn when he feels a sense of danger?
(a) Zaharia.
(b) His soldier friend.
(c) Zorba.
(d) He decides the feeling is nothing, so he does nothing and goes to sleep.

3. When the narrator meets an old man on the trail, where does the man ask if he's headed?
(a) The convent.
(b) The garden.
(c) The pub.
(d) The river.

4. Who claims the right to pronounce judgment on the widow regarding Pavli's death?
(a) Zorba.
(b) Manolakas.
(c) Anagnosti.
(d) Mavrandoni.

5. What does Zorba say prompted him to quit the army?
(a) Torching a village.
(b) Being trapped in a trench with dead bodies.
(c) seeing children murdered.
(d) Seeing the orphans of a priest he killed.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. What language does Zorba teach the narrator in chapter 25?

3. Who does Zorba say is having a sexual relationship with his student?

4. How does Zorba say that he gets rid of intense longings?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. Why do you think the narrator's good friend, the soldier, is not named until his death?

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

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

4. Why does Zaharia say he became a monk?

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

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

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

8. What does Madame Hortense actually think of Zorba?

9. What does Zorba say about the act of crying when Madame Hortense dies?

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

Multiple Choice Answer Key

Short Answer Key

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

It is lent.

2. What language does Zorba teach the narrator in chapter 25?

Dance.

3. Who does Zorba say is having a sexual relationship with his student?

Demetrios.

4. How does Zorba say that he gets rid of intense longings?

Stuffing himself gluttonously with the desired thing.

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

Zorba.

Short Essay Answer Key

1. Why do you think the narrator's good friend, the soldier, is not named until his death?

It may be to emphasize the theme of the importance of human interaction and companionship. Just as the narrator is gaining the realization that human connection is essential, his friend dies and his friend's name is revealed. His friend has also fulfilled his passion, which was to serve his country. His name is then symbolically mythologized when it appears in the story.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. What does Madame Hortense actually think of Zorba?

Madame Hortense thinks Zorba will make a useful husband but does not think much of him above and beyond that role. She wishes also that he were as exciting and accomplished as her former lovers.

9. What does Zorba say about the act of crying when Madame Hortense dies?

He says that he isn't ashamed to cry in front of men because of the unity they share. He says that crying in front of women is different because it is a man's job to prove his courage when before women.

10. 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.