48 pages • 1 hour read
Zorba the Greek
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Chapters 16-18Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 16 Summary
The narrator sees a light in his hut from a distance, which means Zorba has returned. The narrator tries to be angry at Zorba for his delay but finds it difficult. Zorba shows him presents that he has brought for Hortense. He disapproves of the narrator telling her Zorba will marry her as a joke. The narrator himself feels chastised and regrets it. Zorba has brought everything he needs for the cable railway, and he has also settled the question on whether women are human beings, saying that they are.
For the cable railway, all that’s missing is some paperwork about the use of the forest signed by officials at the monastery. Zorba seems fearful, and the narrator consoles him, asking him to play the santuri. The workers come to listen to Zorba sing, and all their worries melt away. The next day, Zorba resumes leading the men as the narrator watches. Mimithos, the errand boy, comes, but Zorba shoos him off.
When the narrator says that Zorba and the workers should break for lunch, Zorba disagrees, telling him they are making up for lost time. The narrator goes to read about ascetics who bathe in freezing water and use their minds to boil water for tea. He reads until nightfall, when Zorba returns. The narrator tells Zorba that the world is much larger than they think and describes what he has been reading. Zorba is disturbed. The narrator asks him for food, and Zorba mentions a cousin who was a monk and went without eating. The narrator replies, “He had found his God, was sitting pretty, had no cares. But we, Zorba, do not have a God to nourish us, so light the fire” (190). According to Zorba, the narrator wants to build a monastery for intellectuals. Zorba would like to be the gatekeeper. Zorba mentions Hortense and says one shouldn’t question the origins of what one receives. Hortense approaches, and the narrator tells Zorba he should marry her.
Chapter 17 Summary
The next day Zorba wants to go to the monastery to get the signatures they need to use the forest for the cable railway. The narrator finds their trip refreshing. They see a monk on their way up. The monk warns them to turn back and gives his name as Zacharias. Zorba introduces himself as Canavaro. Zacharias tells him that he was assaulted by the abbot and is leaving. Zorba asks him to guide them and offers to talk to the abbot on his behalf. In return, Zacharias asks for two pounds of salted cod and brandy. Zorba inquires if Zacharias has a devil inside him, and Zacharias agrees, clarifying that it is the devil, called “Joseph,” that wants meat.
The narrator is put off by the monk, writing, “A crippled mind, like a crimpled body, provokes in me a mixture of odium, compassion and disgust” (194). Zacharias also eats with them, first as a monk, having olives and water, and then as a devil, having chicken. Zorba asks why Zacharias became a monk; Zacharias says it was so he would not starve. He claims to be a clown to the other monks, who laugh at him. , Zacharias claims that God, however, has a sense of humor.
They reach a chapel near the monastery, and the monk tells them that it and the monastery are protected by Our Lady of Revenge. He tells them that the virgin killed the Algerians who had attacked the monastery. They arrive at the monastery, and the narrator admires its simplicity. The monks approach; one asks for a newspaper, while another, Demetrios, shows the narrator and Zorba a clay figure of a woman. Afterward, Zorba judges that they all have devils and that it is best to purge oneself of vices by doing them until one is sick of them. He says he has a scheme and goes with Zacharias.
Chapter 18 Summary
The narrator goes to the chapel. Zorba returns and says the abbot is charging them too much for the forest. Zorba wants it at half price to make up for the money he spent while in Iraklio. “Her Grace is at fault,” Zorba says, “excessively at fault. Let her pay” (203).
That night the narrator can’t sleep and thinks of Christ’s entrance to Galilee. While sleeping in the monastery, the narrator and Zorba are woken up by a revolver shot. A fearful bishop shows up and makes conversation with Zorba and the narrator. He offers the narrator three theories to make life more pleasant — the first is that a flower’s shape influences its color and properties, which in turn affects man. The second is that every idea has a real influence, a real existence, and even a body. The last is that eternity is present in actual life, but that God granted men religion because it is difficult to discover.
The narrator feels that the bishop is offering these ideas to him as his life’s work and reassures him of his theories’ worth. Zorba derails the discussion with nonsense. The bishop tells the narrator about his studies at the monastery and falls asleep. The morning bell rings and Zorba goes to investigate what happened the night before. He thinks the gunshot might lower the price he was initially quoted. Zacharias is waiting for them in the courtyard. Zacharias leads them to the chapel and the body of a young monk seen the day before with Demetrios. Zorba affirms he will find a way to get a good price. The narrator is happy at the monastery despite the monks’ corruption. Zorba secures use of the forest at a good price. He gives a cut of the money to Zacharias and tells him to burn the monastery.
Chapters 16-18 Analysis
The scene at the monastery clashes with the noble image of Eastern monasteries that the narrator has built conversation with Zorba. In those discussions, the narrator says that the monks perform miracles based on their ability to concentrate on just one thing. This upsets Zorba, as he knows that his inability to concentrate on the mine while at Iraklio means he has disappointed the narrator. For his part, the narrator has forgiven Zorba, knowing that distraction is part of his nature and that his ultimate goal at Crete is experience, not success.
However, Zorba is not the only one falls short of that noble example. When they go to the monastery to get the paperwork they need to build the cable railway, the monks they encounter espouse ideals of fasting and self-denial while proving themselves to be corrupt. Zacharias, the first monk they meet, claims to have suffered violence at the hands of the abbot, and asks Zorba for liquor and food despite being prohibited from eating meat. The other monks at the monastery prove themselves to be equally depraved, asking for newspapers and displaying a clay figure of a woman — even murdering in the night.
Though Zorba is upset by his personal shortcomings, he is appalled by the situation at the monastery. His scheme to punish the monks and expose their corruption and violence indicates that his authentic lifestyle is characterized by a strong belief in fairness and integrity.
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