1. How would you describe the narrator as a person? What does he represent and what do you think are his values? Contrast his character with that of Zorba.

2. How does Zorba define freedom? Happiness? What is the overall philosophy that he preaches and lives by?

3. Why do you think the narrator is so attracted to the character of Zorba? What shape do you think their relationship resembles most,
• Friendship between two equals?
• Student and mentor?
• Employer and employee?

4. How do the characters of Zorba and the boss change throughout the story? What character development and growth do we see each of them go through?

5. Why do you think the author chooses to leave the narrator unnamed?

6. “Let people be, boss; don't open their eyes. And supposing you did, what'd they see? Their misery! Leave their eyes closed, boss, and let them go on dreaming!” - After spending some time with Uncle Anagnosti, the narrator and Zorba come to understand the futility of trying to change people's minds. Do you agree with their conclusion?

7. What is the view of women in the novel? Do you agree that most characters were explicitly contemptuous of women? What point do you think the author is trying to make by portraying these attitudes?

8. Compare the death of The Widow with that of the Madame Hortense. Why does the narrator take a much longer pause at the latter (natural death of old age) rather than the former (gruesome execution for ambiguous “crime”)? Which of the two affected you more as a reader?

9. Different countries and races appear in the novel as represented by different characters or cultural influences; Greece (obviously), England, France, Russia, Italy, as well as Turks and Africans. How are these cultures portrayed? What do you think is the underlying symbolism behind their appearances in the novel?

10. Kazantzakis was hated by the political right in Greece who called him “immoral, a Bolshevik troublemaker, and a Russian agent”. He was also distrusted by the Greek and Russian Communist parties as a "bourgeois" thinker, and the Greek Orthodox church came very close to excommunicating him for being "anti-Christian" and "sacrilegious".
What religious or political beliefs of Kazantzakis can you read from his writing in this novel?