48 pages • 1 hour read
Nikos KazantzakisZorba the Greek
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1946A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 7-9Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 7 Summary
That night the narrator asks Zorba how many times he’s been married. Zorba answers that he’s had one honest marriage but thousands of dishonest ones. The narrator asks Zorba to speak of them, and Zorba mentions keeping track of the women he’s slept with by saving locks of their hair. He abandons this endeavor when there are too many. When the narrator prompts him about his half-honest marriages, Zorba gives an account of two relationships.
The first is with a Russian peasant woman, Sophinka, who he met at the market. He followed her home after paying for her bread and smoked fish. Zorba didn’t speak Russian then, and Sophinka lived with an elderly woman. The elderly woman did not object to Zorba spending the night with Sophinka or staying with her for three months. After he left, Zorba met another Russian woman, Nousa. Now knowing more Russian, Zorba talked to her and they reached an agreement. He was welcomed by her family, which threw a party in their honor. After Nousa’s father and Zorba made speeches, the lights were turned off and the women cried out and then started giggling. In the dark, Zorba couldn’t find Nousa and slept with someone else. He searched and found her the next morning, and took her with him. Zorba stayed with Nousa for six months until she ran off with a soldier. According to Zorba, a woman is weak, “a feeble creature,” and cannot be held accountable to the same laws as a man (99).
Chapter 8 Summary
The rains sadden the narrator, and he writes to his friend about being in Crete and renting the mine. He tells him about Zorba and living without elevated ideas. His friend, he writes, must feel doubly heroic and tragic knowing that the conflict he is taking part in is unceasing. He speculates his friend must be happy. The narrator struggles with his beliefs and reminds his friend of meeting two girls in Italy and discussing literature with them, knowing that their encounter was bound by time. The narrator writes that he loves his friend. He decides to go into the village and asks Zorba to join him.
They enter the cafe where Anagnosti welcomes them. One of the men is relating a humorous story about the theater and seeing an actress whose name could be confused with “chicken.” An attractive woman walks out in the rain, and the men gossip about her. She is a widow who intrigues them, and the narrator observes that “the whole village has her as its seductive lover” (97). A young man, Mimithos, shows up with a message from her saying that her ewe is lost and she promises a jug of wine as a reward. Pavli, the lovesick son of Mavrandoni, another village elder, arrives. Zorba himself grows more and more agitated, a state the narrator ascribes to the widow.
They leave the cafe with the errand boy, who tells the narrator that he lives off of odd jobs he does around the village. The narrator asks him about women, but the boy responds that he’s too poor and women are trouble. Zorba sees the narrator’s interest in the widow and urges him to act. The narrator tells him to be quiet. That night, Zorba plays a song that sounds scolding to the narrator. Zorba narrates a story about a Turkish holy man who told him that not responding to a woman’s invitation was a sin.
Chapter 9 Summary
Winter approaches. Zorba is hard at work at the mine, anxious to make more money and go elsewhere. He continues thinking about the right slope for the cable railway. For a few days, the narrator sees him eat then depart for the village. One night, Zorba asks the narrator if God exists. In Zorba’s view, God is like him, but “taller, stronger, crazier” (115). The narrator humors him but is taken by the idea. Another night Zorba asks the narrator why he keeps him around since he has a reputation for ruining affairs. The narrator answers that he likes him. Zorba admits he has been thinking a lot about the widow and that he would like someone to sleep with her.
The next day Zorba goes to the mine to work as always, but feels uneasy about the props strengthening the gallery, especially because a priest had crossed his path. The narrator goes to the mine and senses Zorba’s uneasiness. Although the narrator calls for a lunch break, Zorba tells him to go ahead and keeps working. Suddenly Zorba senses danger and yells for the workers to get out before the gallery collapses. Everyone gets out. The narrator goes back for Zorba, and they rush out before the gallery collapses. Zorba chastises the men for leaving their tools. When one man attempts to thank Zorba, he dismisses him.
Chapters 7-9 Analysis
Zorba’s way of life continues to appeal to the narrator, particularly the way he deals with others. For example, although Zorba did not speak Russian, that language barrier didn’t hamper his interactions with Russian women. Instead, he communicated and connected with them through dance. The narrator’s own experience with women stands in contrast to Zorba’s, since his abstract thinking was not understood by the girl who contemplated a work of art with him. While Zorba expresses himself and develops intimate connections through his body alone, the narrator relies on his intellect and words, and when they fail, he struggles to establish meaningful connections.
The narrator mentions another encounter where he and his friend met two girls and spoke with them about their readings. While Zorba’s encounters with women are characterized by joy, the narrator’s experience suggests melancholy. Even as they met the girls, the narrator thought about their inevitable separation. These attitudes, the narrator’s anxiety and Zorba’s enjoyment of life, condition how they react to the widow. Zorba wants the narrator to approach her, but the narrator is troubled by his attraction to her.
The collapse of a gallery at the lignite mind emphasizes that Zorba’s connection goes beyond people to the land itself, as he’s able to anticipate the event and prevent any injuries. The incident also underscores that Zorba is a man of action. The narrator, on the other hand, mentions being paralyzed in fear. After the incident, Zorba’s rejection of a worker’s expression of gratitude again highlights the insufficiency of words.
