A “paper gnawer,” or bookworm, the narrator is a Greek intellectual who longs for a more authentic existence after his friend teases him about his passivity (20). The narrator seeks true worldly experience by renting out a lignite mine to run in Crete. He hires Zorba to be his foreman and entertain him, seeing in Zorba a man with the kind of connection to the world that the narrator desires. The narrator is impeded from becoming like Zorba due to his schooling and his rationalism. Due to his time in Crete and his interactions with Zorba, the narrator is able to cast aside his distancing intellectuality in favor of genuine experiences, which range from simple events like eating to a complicated affair with a widow. He discovers that by valuing bodily experience and satisfaction, he can reach spiritual satisfaction as well.

Furthermore, he discovers that he doesn’t need to achieve success to access that feeling of satisfaction. The lignite mine and cable railway were failed ventures, but this only brings the narrator and Zorba closer together. At the same time, the narrator retains his individuality and background. His time in Crete demystifies peasant life for the narrator, which encompasses the worldliness of poverty and violence.