VYTAUTO DIDŽIOJO UNIVERSITETAS HUMANITARINIŲ MOKSLŲ FAKULTETAS

UŽSIENIO KALBŲ, LITERATŪROS IR VERTIMO STUDIJŲ KATEDRA

Ugnė Bobyriūtė

KOLEKTYVINĖ TRAUMA ANDREAS KOUMI ROMANE “THE CYPRIOT”

Bakalauro baigiamasis darbas

Anglų filologijos studijų programa, valstybinis kodas 612Q30004

Anglų filologijos studijų kryptis

Vadovė prof. dr. Ingrida Eglė Žindžiuvienė __________ __________

(parašas) (data)

Apginta doc. dr. Rūta Eidukevičienė __________ __________

(parašas) (data)

Kaunas, 2020

COLLECTIVE TRAUMA IN ANDREAS KOUMI’S NOVEL THE CYPRIOT

By Ugnė Bobyriūtė

Department of Foreign Language, Literary and Translation Studies

Vytautas Magnus University

Bachelor of Arts Thesis

Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Ingrida Eglė Žindžiuvienė

3 June 2020

Santrauka

Šiame bakalauro baigiamajame darbe analizuojama kolektyvinė trauma ir jos poveikio visuomenei

bei individui vaizdavimas Andreas Koumi romane “The Cypriot”. “The Cypriot” yra romanas, kuriame

atsispindi dviejų pagrindinių Kipro religinių grupių tarpusavio konfliktas. Taip pat romane didelis

dėmesys yra kreipiamas į tai, kokį poveikį išgyventas kolektyvinis smurtas daro bendruomenei ir

individui.

Darbą sudaro penki skyriai. Pirmajame skyriuje pristatoma darbo tema ir tikslas. Antrajame

skyriuje pateikiami teorinis kolektyvinės traumos apibrėžimas tiek bendruomenės, tiek individo

lygmenyje, lyginami psichologų ir sociologų požiūriai į tai, kaip kolektyvinė trauma paveikia kolektyvinę

sąmonę ir atmintį bei koks jos poveikis gali būti matomas paveiktos bendruomenės ateities kartose.

Trečiajame skyriuje aprašomas socio-istorinis Kipro konflikto kontekstas. Ketvirtame skyriuje

analizuojama, kaip kolektyvinė trauma vaizduojama Andreas Koumi romane “The Cypriot”. Poskyryje

4.1 analizuojamas kolektyvinės traumos poveikis bendruomenei romane “The Cypriot”. Poskyryje 4.2

aprašoma kolektyvinė trauma individo lygmenyje romane “The Cypriot”. Šeštajame skyriuje yra

pateikiamos darbo išvados.

Summary

This thesis analyses depiction of collective trauma and its impact on a community and on an individual in

Andreas Koumi’s novel The Cypriot. The Cypriot is a novel which represents the social intercommunal

conflict between two main religious groups in Cyprus. It also focuses on what effect a collectively

endured intercommunal violence has on a community on an individual.

The thesis is divided into five sections. Section 1 introduces the topic and the aim of the paper. Section 2 presents theoretical framework regarding the definition of collective trauma both on a level of

community and on a level of an individual. It also considers the perspectives of various psychologists and

sociologists in regard to the effect collective trauma has on the collective consciousness and memory of a

group affected, and also how it may affect the future generations. Section 3 provides sociohistorical

context related to the Cyprus dispute. Then, section 4 focuses on depiction of collective trauma in

Andreas Koumi’s The Cypriot. Subsection 4.1 examines the concept of collective trauma and its effect on

a community in The Cypriot. Subsection 4.2 describes collective trauma on a level of an individual as it is

portrayed in The Cypriot. Finally, section 6 provides conclusions.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction .................................................................................................................. 1

2. Definition of Collective Trauma ................................................................................. 2

3. Sociohistorical Context in Andreas Koumi’s Novel The Cypriot ............................. 7

4. Collective Trauma in Andreas Koumi’s Novel The Cypriot ........................................ 9

4.1 The Level of Community ................................................................................................................ 10

4.2 The Level of an Individual ............................................................................................................. 19

5. Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 23

Works Cited ....................................................................................................................... 25

Appendix 1: Plot summary of The Cypriot ..................................................................... 27

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1. Introduction The subject of psychological trauma is paramount in literary works, one of them being Andreas

Koumi’s novel The Cypriot. Even if not held at a focal point of the plot itself, trauma, as a story-

telling or character-developing device, shapes the characters, offers insights to their motives and

creates perspective into certain political and historical situations due to its unique capability to

display the inner world of a character. By exploring the topic of trauma, narrative is able to

investigate connections between traumatic events of the past and their consequences visible in the

lives of present and future generations. Scholars have argued that the collective trauma, persisting

after the circumstances that have caused it, is not only largely caused by the collective memory of

the group affected but, also, by the sum of each individual experiences of the people affected

(Volkan 4; Alexander 10; Erikson 13). The setting of Andreas Koumi’s novel The Cypriot is based around the time of socio-

political conflict in Cyprus, which resulted in lingering collective trauma in the communal

consciousness of both Christian and Muslim Cypriots. According to online sources, Andreas

Koumi is a writer of Cypriot heritage, born and raised outside of Cyprus, in the United Kingdom.

He represents a generation of contemporary Cypriot writers, which are second or third generation

Cypriots and write mainly in English language.

Andreas Koumi’s The Cypriot is a story largely concerned with the notion of collective,

sociohistorical trauma. Set during a time of political and religious turbulence in Cyprus, The

Cypriot follows a love story between a Greek Cypriot young man Andonis and a Turkish Cypriot

girl Funda, reassembling the famous Romeo and Juliet narrative in some respects, as the two lovers

are separated by their families of different religious and political beliefs. More importantly, The

Cypriot also touches upon the impact of the growing tensions between the island’s Christian and

Muslim communities and allows a glimpse into life in Cyprus in the 1950’s (a time before the

country's independence) with the rise of the EOKA movement, which sought an end of the British

rule of the island and eventual union (enosis) with Greece. The Cypriot explicitly displays the

damage caused by political interference of both foreigners and native people, each with their own

agendas and very little regard for the common people, which resulted in collective trauma and

individual suffering. How does being exposed to traumatic events of warfare and hostility in your

own community affect the way community funcions? What goes through the mind of individuals

affected by such collective trauma and how does that influence the choices the individual makes?

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Taking these questions as a starting point, this thesis intends to analyse how collective trauma is

capable of re-shaping the dynamics of a community and negatively affecting lives of individuals in

The Cypriot.

Therefore, theoretical background concerning the term collective trauma will be provided

first, as it is defined by various scholars. In order to explain the idea of collective trauma

concerning both a group of people and a single individual, this thesis will further concentrate on the

studies by Turkish Cypriot psychiatrist Vamik D. Volkan and American sociologists Jeffrey C.

Alexander, Peter Felix Kellermann and Kai T. Erikson. Vamik D. Volkan’s views suggest how and

why traumata are historically and therefore, collectively, spread through the events of mass acts of

brutality and warfare, whereas Jeffrey C. Alexander argues that the trauma inflicted upon a certain

community plays a key role in defining the causes and outcomes of following social conflicts within

said community and, finally, Kai T. Erikson’s ideas are concerned with what kind of effect a

traumatic event can have on the individual behaviour and overall sociodynamic within a

community. The practical part consists of textual analysis, which is divided into two parts. Firstly, the collective trauma within a community as a sum of individual experiences will be examined and

how does that affect the collective consciousness of the said community in the novel The Cypriot.

Secondly, this thesis will analyse how the characters in the novel are affected by the collective

trauma in their community as individuals. Finally, the findings will be summarized in a conclusion.

2. Definition of Collective Trauma

The Greek word trauma was primarily used to refer to a physical injury on the body (Onderko 1).

However, in later use, especially concerning literary and psychiatric works, as claims an author and

professor Cathy Caruth, trauma became a term used to allude to “deeply distressing and disturbing

psychological experiences and the aftermath caused by them” (Caruth 32). Caruth also adds that “a

sole definition of the term trauma is difficult to pinpoint due to the circumstantial nature of the term

itself” (Caruth 11) and that in order “to be specific about the use and meaning of the word trauma,

one should also identify the type of trauma” (Caruth 11).

According to an American psychiatrist Judith L. Herman, there are “three main types of

psychological trauma: acute trauma, which results from a single incident; chronic trauma, which is

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repeated and prolonged and complex trauma, which is caused by exposure to varied and multiple

traumatic events, often of an invasive and interpersonal nature” (Herman 10). Herman also

indicates that “traumata can be differentiated based on the scale of the impact” (Herman 12). Then,

only two types of trauma are identified: “personal and collective or communal” (Herman 12).

Often, it remains unclear or vague if the focus is on individual or on collective trauma. And, as

Herman suggests, “if the term collective trauma is used, other terms such as interpersonal,

intergroup, intergenerational and transgenerational, historic or chosen trauma are often used

interchangeably” (Herman 24). Moreover, Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis

Sigmund Freud adds to explaining the overall concept of psychological trauma, both personal and

collective, by claiming that “traumatic experiences, while being repressed, dwell in the sub-

consciousness of the victim and return to the conscious mind in the form of repetitive, usually toxic

behaviour.” (Freud 54). Also, Freud observed that “a victim, fixated upon some very definite event

in their past, become estranged both from the present and the future” (Freud 54), an idea which

emphasizes the destructive effect a traumatic event that occurred in the past may have on future

generations and communities they form. When suggesting a term collective trauma or communal trauma which can be used

interchangeably, it is important to consider the idea of community itself. “Community” is a broad

topic within social sciences, but most definitions involve the same few basic claims. Dictionary of

Sociology defines community as “a group of people who follows a social structure within a society,

share common values, behaviour, beliefs and the same geographical location and may be bound

together by a shared sense of belonging” (Dictionary of Sociology. “community”). Many scholars have different perspectives on defining the term of ‘collective trauma’ and

thus it can be argued that a uniform and sole definition of collective trauma can hardly be formed –

neither within nor outside the fields of sociology, socio-psychology and conflict transformation.

However, socio-psychologists, among them a Turkish Cypriot psychiatrist Vamik D. Volkan, has

contributed to a better understanding of “how and why traumata are historically and therefore,

collectively, spread through the events of mass acts of brutality and warfare” (Volkan 16).

Although Vamik D. Volkan did not use the term collective trauma, his insights into war legacy and

psychological trauma resulting because of it, help to form a somewhat unifying definition for the

term. According to Volkan, instead of collective trauma a term chosen trauma can also be used to

refer to a “mental representation of an event that has caused a large group to face drastic losses, feel

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helpless and victimised by another group, and share a humiliating injury” (Volkan 15). Further

developing this idea, Volkan also highlights that large groups of people, in his opinion, “choose to

mythologize and psychologise the mental representation of the event” (Volkan 13), as a result

enabling the collectively experiences trauma to have even larger consequences on the collective

consciousness overall. An American sociologist and one of the world’s leading social theorists

Jeffrey C. Alexander also adds to this idea, by claiming that collective or cultural trauma is “an

empirical concept which occurs when individuals of a community are subjected to a horrific event

that has a permanent effect on the said community’s group consciousness, marks their collective

memory forever and changes their future identity in fundamental and irrevocable manner”

(Alexander 8). According to Alexander, collective trauma can be defined as an “event that morphs

and breaks the sense of welfare in an individual or communal consciousness.” (Alexander 8)

Therefore, the main idea is that the power of trauma is thought to come directly from the events

themselves and the reaction that is triggered by said traumatic events is thought to be “immediate,

impulsive and correlating to the human nature” (Alexander 8). Human beings, among many other

commodities, require order, stability and security to lead healthy lives. As Alexander puts it, “If

something happens that sharply undermines these needs, it hardly seems surprising . . . that people

will be traumatised as a result.” (Alexander 10). Moreover, Cathy Caruth, one of the founding

figures of trauma theory, in her book Unclaimed Experience: Trauma, Narrative, and History

claims that some forms of collective trauma can grant a unique access to history as “through the

notion of trauma . . . we can understand that a rethinking of reference is aimed not at eliminating

history but at resituating it in our understanding, that is, at precisely permitting history to arise

when immediate understanding may not.” (Caruth 11). Caruth explains history as being

“fundamentally traumatic and various types of psychological trauma developing due to certain

events considered as historical” (Caruth 13). Also, she expresses an idea that “considering trauma

as a historical process can help understand links between individuals and cultures from different

parts of the world” (Caruth 44). According to Caruth, collective trauma, especially of historical and

political causes, “is never simply one’s own” (Caruth 46), meaning that it is possible to observe

how different countries and cultures have undergone very similar traumatic experiences that lead to

similar societal notions in the present day. By exploring these cross-cultural links caused by

traumata, a better understanding of historical processes and collective consciousness can be

achieved.

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While analysing the term collective trauma it is also important to note the span of such

trauma, meaning that usually, not just one, but many generations can be affected by the same

traumatic event which occurred many years ago. Although the traumatic event has not directly

affected the subsequent generations of the community which was impacted, the damage done to the

collective consciousness prevails. In his book Sociodrama and Collective Trauma, Peter Felix

Kellermann compares collective trauma to a nuclear explosion of Chernobyl in 1986, due to its

“vast and lingering effects spanning over many countries and generations” (Kellerman 33). He

claims that “the profound after-effects of trauma of such sort are manifold and far-reaching”

(Kellermann 33) . Kellermann notes that just like a nuclear contamination, “psychological trauma

also lingers and continues to show its effect on those who were affected and, more importantly, on

the following generations as well, long after the traumatic event itself” (Kellermann 34).

Furthermore, he illustrates this idea by explaining how “children from many generations after the

catastrophe were still displaying disturbing images in their drawings . . . even though they have in

no way experienced the tragedy themselves” (Kellerman 35). In their case, the irrational fear and,

therefore, the trauma, has been passed onto their generation subconsciously, without actually being

exposed to it first-hand, hence, collective trauma is prone to becoming transgenerational trauma as

well. While discussing the term collective trauma from a psychoanalytical and sociological

perspective, it is also important to discuss how such traumata is represented in literature. According

to the author of The Nature of Trauma in American Novels Michelle Balaev, the term “trauma

novel” is used to “refer to a work of fiction that conveys profound loss or intense fear on individual

or collective levels” (Balaev 1). Balaev also draws attention to the fact that trauma portrayed in

literature is “very often linked to a place or geographical location”(Balaev 1), as the place holding a

certain social and historical context helps to “depict the relation between an individual trauma and a

larger, communal suffering” (Balaev 1). Balaev also states that “The trauma novel demonstrates

how a traumatic event disrupts attachments between self and others by challenging the fundamental

assumptions about moral laws and social relationships that are themselves connected to physical

environments.” (Balaev 2). Solely discussing the term collective trauma is not quite possible without comparing it to the

term of individually experienced trauma. While these two ideas have their differences, they also

share some fundamental notions. When studying collective trauma as a concept that is intertwined

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with individual trauma, both the similarities and differences should be considered. Firstly, Jeffrey

C. Alexander states that traumata occurring within certain communities are not only “psychological

individually undergone, but collective experiences”, meaning that all the collective traumata may

be divided and examined by a single case, and that the “trauma inflicted upon a certain community

plays a key role in defining the causes and outcomes of [later] social conflicts” (Alexander 68).

These ideas, again, emphasize the lingering effects of a collective trauma, and also suggest that

they are likely to be responsible for an unstable social state within the same affected community.

Moreover, according to Alexander, collective trauma can often be perceived as “not only a sum of

individual sufferings caused by a traumatic event, but also a symbolic rendering of the actual

happening that can deconstruct overall collective memory of a community that is affected by the

said traumatic happening” (Alexander 65), an idea which suggests that collective trauma, compared

to personal trauma, is more likely to persist in the overall memory of a community and, therefore,

has a far wider reach. As he develops an original social theory of trauma, Alexander also highlights

that “the effects that a traumatic event may have on individuals as a group or community, are not

often easily identifiable, because the processing of trauma is somewhat an irrational and exclusive

procedure” (Alexander 62). Thus, he emphasizes the complex relation between collective and

individual trauma, as one can be seen as a part of the other, but should not always be seen only as

such, and how both of them are capable of influencing one another and, therefore, changing the

outcome that is later visible in the community. Secondly, the ideas and a novel titled Everything in

Its Path by an American sociologist Kai T. Erikson should be considered, while further discussing

‘collective trauma’. Although Erikson shares similar ideas to Alexander by implying that both

individual and collective traumata are interconnected, he also notes some important differences. The novel Everything in Its Path recounts disastrous personal and communal effects of the

catastrophe caused by a flood in an Appalachian community, which was suddenly uprooted from its

homeland because of the natural disaster. Erikson highlights the “loss of connection, declining

morality and rise in crime all due to the sudden demise of a neighbourhood and a familiar social

structure” (Erikson 13). He also notes that, in a sense, “the collective trauma lasted longer than the

individual traumata caused by the disaster” (Erikson 10), meaning that the sense of community

which was lost due to the catastrophe had a bigger impact on the overall lives of people and was

more visible than the individual sufferings. Erikson conceptualises the difference between personal

and collective trauma by paying attention to their cause and effect, which is evident from the

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following passage, where Erikson states that:

By individual trauma I mean a blow to the psyche that breaks through one’s defences so suddenly and with such brutal force that one cannot react to it effectively… By collective trauma, on the other hand, I mean a blow to the basic tissues of social life that damages the bonds attaching people together and impairs the prevailing sense of communality. (Erikson 153-154)

By observing this idea, one may note how the collective trauma is mainly a social concept. That is,

it first affects the relationships of the individuals in a community, then creates hostile and

conflicting environments and eventually breaks the community apart, destroying it as a social unit. Erikson develops the idea further and adds:

The collective trauma works its way slowly and even insidiously into the awareness of those who suffer from it, so it does not have the quality of suddenness normally associated with “trauma”. But it is a form of shock all the same, a gradual realisation that the community no longer exists as an effective source of support and that an important part of the self has disappeared… “We” no longer exist as a connected pair or as linked cells in a larger communal body. (Erikson 153-154)

Thus, Erikson highlights how collective trauma is a concept unique in its ability to make people

grow to be accustomed to it and consider it a normal way of being. It is a gradual process, which

includes many generations, hence the idea of collective trauma being transgenerational trauma as

well. One of the consequences of such a disaster is the individual traumata that is caused by the

collective one. Thus, an idea that collective trauma can be seen on a level of an individual and on a

level of community is supported.

3. Sociohistorical Context in Andreas Koumi’s Novel The Cypriot The main conflict in the novel The Cypriot is largely connected with the geographical location of

the setting in the novel, therefore, it is important to inspect a sociohistorical approach to the said

text. A sociohistorical approach to literature, according to X.J. Kennedy and Dana

Gioia’s Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama, “seeks to understand the text

based on the cultural and historical event taking place at the time it was written” (Kennedy, Gioia

1791). The plot is mainly developed on the island of Cyprus in 1950’s, before the country’s

independence. The main occurring event at the time is tension between the island’s Muslim and

Christian communities, which is not only evident in the time period presented in The Cypriot but

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has been so for many years before that, too. According to an online article by Prof. Dr. Ali Efdal

Özkul titled “Social, Economic and Political History of Cyprus”, “the island of Cyprus has had an

important role in Muslim-Christian struggle in the Near East ever since the Crusades, because of

the island’s strategically advantageous position in the Mediterranead Sea” (Özkul 1). Due to this

reason, among others, Cyprus has had many conquerors over the years. One of such conquests was

by the Ottoman Empire in the late 16th century, as the island is said to have been “necessary for the

establishment of the Ottoman rule in the Mediterranean.” (Özkul 1). Prof. Dr. Ali Efdal Özkul also

states that “in order to make a newly conquered country literally a homeland and to defend it easily,

Turkish Muslims were required to settle there.” (Özkul 1). Therefore, the native non-muslim

population of Cyprus was heavily shrunk, in order to make room for the Turkish settlers. In the

terms of religious and cultural differences, the society of Cyprus was formed by “Turks [which] can

be defined as Muslim and Orthodox Greeks, Armenians, Maronites, Jews, Franks (Latins) and the

merchants who came to island for trade can be defined as Non-Muslims.” (Özkul 2). Another

interesting point that Prof. Dr. Ali Efdal Özkul notes in his article is regarding the marital relations

at that time. He suggests that “inter-communal marriages mostly were observed between Muslim

men and Non-Muslim women. The Cyprus Orthodox Church strongly opposed such marriages and

ostracized those people” (Özkul 1). Excluding couples which come from different religious groups

from the society remained frequent for many years to come and this tendency could also be seen as

inspiration for one of the main plot points in the Andreas Koumi’s Novel The Cypriot.

In the late 19th century, “due to the Ottoman Empire losing the Ottoman-Russian War and,

later, joining the World War I against Britain, Cyprus was annexed by Britain, which led to Britain

offering Cyprus to Greece in exchange for alliance in the war” (Özkul 2). This exchange, addressed

as enosis, never happened, but it did spawn even greater animosity between already conflicting

communities of Greek and Turkish Cypriots, as the latter were not keen on the idea of Enosis. After

this failed attempt, Cyprus was officially declared “Crown Colony in 1925” and remained so until

1960 (Özkul 2). According to Prof. Dr. Ali Efdal Özkul, “major acts of rebellion occurred

throughout the years of British rule in Cyprus, as the Greek Cypriots, unable to achieve Enosis

peacefully and with some outside help from Greece, established EOKA, an underground

organization focused on actualizing enosis by firstly targeting British administrators on the island

and later Turkish Cypriots as well”. It is stated in an online source of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of

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Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus that “as a response to EOKA, Turkish Cypriots, with outside

support from Turkey, established TMT (Turkish Resistance Organization) in order to resist the

attacks”. This is the part of Cypriot history that is largely represented in the setting of Andreas

Koumi’s The Cypriot.

After years of military conflict, as stated by Prof. Dr. Ali Efdal Özkul, “a consensus was

reached and the Republic of Cyprus was established as a two-nation state on the basis of the

partnership of Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots” and this compromise regained Cyprus its

independence (Özkul 3). Unfortunately, the partnership republic only lasted three years, as

disagreements over governmental issues arose between the two sides of the community and

eventually led to a “physical separation of the population” known as the “Green Line” and required

“the United Nations to send their Peacekeeping Force to Cyprus” (Özkul 3). That is how the island

remains still, divided in north and south sides and its people co-existing in separate communities.

4. Collective Trauma in Andreas Koumi’s Novel The Cypriot

The analysis is divided into two parts, which correspond to the idea of the effects of collective

trauma being visible on the level of community and on the level of individually endured

experiences due to the said trauma. This division also matches Jeffrey C. Alexander’s suggestion

that collective trauma alters both the communal and individual consciousness. Although The

Cypriot is mainly told by a first-person narrator, which enables the reader to experience a personal

take on the situation, a portrayal of collective experiences is also important, which is why a portion

of the novel is told through the eyes of different characters, occupying various social positions in

the village. Moreover, the protagonist can also be perceived as an archetype representing a part of

Cypriot community. Therefore, the duality of the novel enables a better look into contrasting

perceptions on collectively experienced trauma.

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4.1 The Level of Community

In order to examine collective trauma on a communal level, Jeffrey C. Alexander’s ideas on

collective memory will be applied to the community of the village depicted in The Cypriot. The

main focus will remain on the protagonist, his immediate family and friends and their experience of

collective trauma as a community. To begin with, the role of religion in the collective

consciousness and trauma of Christian and Muslim Cypriots in the novel should be discussed. As it

was briefly mentioned before, the plot of The Cypriot takes place on the island of Cyprus in the

1950’s, during the years of Cypriot intercommunal conflict and violence. One of the main focus of

the plot is a love story, but a lot of attention is also payed to the intercommunal conflict. The story

in the novel is told through two timelines and through the eyes of several characters, thus creating a

fuller perspective on the overall situation on the island at the time and displaying the consequences

in later years. Although the story has a number of characters which point of view is presented in

separate chapters, the protagonist of the story is Andonis, as his chapters are the only ones written

in first-person narrative. The reader is firstly introduced to Andonis in the prologue of the novel as

both as a young man living in Cyprus and, later, a middle-aged man living in London. The first two

short chapters of the novel juxtapose each other by being titled “The Cypriot” and “The foreigner”,

and serve as a sort of symbolic link between the two parts of the protagonist’s life. The first chapter

“The Cypriot” introduces Andonis as he participates in the ritual of baptism, entering the life of a

full member of the Christian Orthodox religious community. The reader can feel the atmosphere in

the first chapter as being somewhat glorious and uplifting, as the idea of the main character being

on the verge of something great and important is presented when Andonis retrieves a cross from the

sea as a part of a communal ritual “a triumphant fist broke the surface of the sea, clenching the

silver prize” (Koumi 9). The symbolic initiation into the community is presented as ‘a prize’ or ‘a

privilege’ and by being the opening scene through which the reader is introduced to the story and

the main character, it shows how religion or, more importantly, the religious community and being

a part of it, plays a significant role in this particular story. As the plot progresses, the concept of

being a part of a religious group is further developed and the reader is introduced to the history and

conflict within the two communities that share a geographical location but differ in religion. The

first character to give exposition on the matter is an old man called Haji-Markos. As he reflects

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back on the struggles the people in his community faced through many years of different

conquerors - the current ones being the English or, as they are referred to by the Cypriots

throughout the novel ‘the Englezi’ - Haji-Markos lists the captors:

And before then it had been the Ottoman Turks. And before them, Haji-Markos knew, it had been the Venetians. And before the Venetians it had been the Crusaders. […] And before the Crusaders it had been the Byzantines. And before them the Romans. And before them the Macedonians. And before them the Persians. And before them the Assyrians. And before that the Egyptians. And before them the Achaens and the Mycenaens, and also the Phoenicians. It had always been so in Cyprus, jewel of the Mediterranean. All who came had left their mark, on the island and on the people. (20)

The old man continues by explaining that each of the conquerors had “exploited Cyprus” and that,

just like now, the people had to “find ways to get by” and “to endure” (21). This suggests a notion

of generations of Cypriots being exposed to a traumatic experience of their country never having

independence and therefore a say in their affairs. A seemingly never-ending line of foreign

oppressors traumatized and left a mark on the collective memory and the overall identity of the

Cypriots, making it hard for the people to distinguish their own nationality as a separate and

independent unit and create a well-being for themselves as a sole community. Striving for freedom

in a society that has never really known freedom means there is no unified concept to what the said

freedom entails, which is also why Christian and Muslim communities express such different takes

to the issue – for Christian community freedom is being united with Greece and for Muslim

community it’s the opposite of freedom that would result in even greater oppression for their

religious minority. By not displaying a unifying front in regard to the issue of their independence,

the communities struggle to find a reasonable way to solve it, one that would not ostracize either

one of the communities.

Haji-Markos also offers commentary on the social and political situation at the time and

how “encouraged by the Englezi the Muslims were opening their own schools, cutting themselves

off, declaring themselves “Turkish “. And […] the Orthodox Christian majority were declaring

themselves “Greek”’ (21). Thus, the religious group one belongs to is said to indicate the national

identity one should be willing to adopt. Through religion, people are able to find a sense of

belonging but at the same time, since the two main religious groups find themselves assimilating

with opposing forces, they also break apart the community they initially formed together. With an

outside influence of the English stepping in with their own agenda and little regard for the already

fragile balance between the communities, peaceful environment cannot be maintained anymore

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and, propelled by the religious patriarchs, brutality between the two communities arise. The

Muslim Cypriots are then regarded by the Christian majority as “the excuse the Englezi need to

keep us [Christian Cypriots] from our mother [Greece]” (105) and hatred is fueled even further. For

the Christian Cypriots, union with Greece, or enosis, means union with their motherland and

freedom from foreign authorities. For the Muslim Cypriots enosis would mean becoming an

ostracized minority in their own homeland. Neither of the two communities feel satisfied with

“others making decisions on our [Cypriot] behalf” (209) and this dependent state causes animosity

among their own kind which traumatizes the collective consciousness of the Cypriot community on

the whole.

Nevertheless, an opposing idea is also depicted as existing among the less radical Cypriots, who recognize the need of unity within a community that shares location and history despite the

religious differences rather than with outside nations that might share faith. The protagonist

Andonis and his family voice this notion on various occasions, young Andonis even claiming that

“Cyprus is as much their [Muslim Cypriot] home as it is ours” and that “they’ve lived here for

generations” (105) which is a very controversial idea to claim at the time. The reason why Andonis

is keen on making such proclamations can be traced back to his upbringing and the origin of his

family. Like many other people who call themselves Cypriot, Andonis’s origin is mixed, which is

one of the reasons why he fails to see Christian Cypriots as solely ‘Greek’. The question of

Andonis’s ancestry arises when a captain of the deployed English troops visits Andonis’s workshop

in need of a suit. The captain observes a picture of Andonis’s late grandmother and notes that “She

seems very fair, for a Greek” which leads to Andonis clarifying “You mean for a Cypriot. But you

see she wasn’t born in Cyprus. She was from Macedonia in northern Greece. There are many fair

Macedonians.” (131). By correcting the Englishman’s assumption about his grandmother’s descent,

Andonis shows comprehension in regard to the concept of a Cypriot being its own, unique and

separate identity and not an extension of being Greek or Turk. This idea is also supported by his

father Mihalis, as he claims that “the blood flowing through our veins is impossible to trace, with

procession of races within it.” (119). Because of these ideas he was exposed to in his family from

an early age, Andonis is also not particularly susceptible to the prevailing impression that Muslim

Cypriots and Christian Cypriots are two separate groups of people and has difficulty accepting the

animosity from both Muslim and Christian Cypriots that he faces when he develops feelings for a

Muslim girl Funda. For Andonis and Funda, religion is something that stands in between their

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happiness, breaks their community apart and inflicts unnecessary violence, which is why both of

the youth are quick to disassociate themselves from religion altogether. In their eyes, it loses its

main purpose – to unify people and bring peace, thus Andonis and Funda both express similar

viewpoint:

‘You’ll never lose me, Funda. Between you and me, I’m not much of a Christian.’

Funda nodded. ‘Nor I much of a Muslim,’ she whispered. (133)

It is not only with Funda that Andonis is quick to express doubt in his religious background. While

speaking to his greatly religious brother Marios, Andonis states:

I don’t see much love in the village at the moment. Only confusion, fear and hatred. Maybe we’ve all got the wrong God. […] I feel so distant from this fine old religion of ours, Mario […] Because I don’t see it as the answer to our problems. I see it as the cause. (189).

It is evident in this passage, how the character’s opinion on one of the pivotal notions in his

community has changed drastically and the ache he feels because of that. Throughout the course of

the novel Andonis is never portrayed as a deeply religious person, claiming that “like my father I

never cared much for organized religion” (108) and yet, he regards Christianity as “fine old religion

of ours” and is firstly introduced in the plot through a religious act. The idea that is conveyed is that

being a part of a religious group in The Cypriot means belonging to a community and having a clear

identity. When people, among them Andonis, start seeing faults in the role that religion plays in the

conflict that is tearing Cyprus apart, the connection to it is lost and people lose the sense of unity

and purpose. As the situation within his community becomes increasingly more violent and out of

control, Andonis encounters more and more hostility directed at him and his family due to the

unpopular opinions they maintain towards the Muslim community. Not only does Andonis receive

crude remarks on his budding romance with Funda from his friends and disapproval from his

parents and community, but it also reaches a point when he suffers a physical attack as a warning

because of his refusal to distance himself from the community of a different faith. He later makes a

snarky comment to his brother about the attack mentioning that “for the love of God, everything is

permissible.” (225) and, therefore, makes his disappointment and anger with the changed role of

religion clear. While to his brother Marios Christianity is still a sacred bond, Andonis is aware the

way people within and outside his community are able to use this bond for their own selfish and

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cruel purposes and thus, he feels alienated from his religious group and, in a sense, from his

community.

As the plot of the novel progresses and more time passes, the Christian and Muslim

communities become progressively more brutal and start using organized acts of violence to

intimidate one of their own to fall into line and share the ideology that suits the majority. The

spread of such ideology is also portrayed as visible in schools where it has the ability to affect the

youth in the community peacefully, by brainwashing them, as young children mindlessly repeat the

information that they hear at home or in schools. They are not able to fully grasp what the words

that they are being told and repeat entail and what kind of power they hold, but they are responsive

to the overall climate within their community. This situation is made apparent in the novel as

Andonis once encounters some children playing and overhears their war cries:

‘What are you doing, boys?’ he [Andonis] enquired.

‘We are brave warriors,’ replied one defiantly.

‘Protecting the village,’ added the other.

‘Who from?’ enquired Andonis, knowing full well the answer.

‘The Englezi of course!’ declared one with a sneer. ‘Those who exploit us and our homeland. They are not welcome here.’

‘Death to the Englezi!’

‘And the Turks too,’ sneered one. ‘The dogs of the Englezi. Spies, cheats, traitors all.’ (158)

Witnessing such atrocities being said by children, who do not even understand what they mean, is

astounding and it clearly depics the scale of the trauma the Cypriot community suffers from.

Corresponding to the idea by Peter Felix Kellerman, the collective trauma shown in The Cypriot is

transgenerational and is able to have negative effects not only on one, but on multiple generations

by encouraging xenophobia and violence. Inherited hatred loses its initial source and becomes

habitual rather than somewhat reasonable. It is then difficult to put a stop to the communal hatred, as at that point it has been a part of the society for longer than anyone can remember and therefore

no longer has a source or a reasonable objective. Such long-lasting animosity results in loss of

communal spirit and connection.

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As the communal bonds become severed and tension between and inside the religious

groups rises, people are shown to become increasingly more hostile not only towards the other

community but also within their own. Therefore, similarly to the idea of Kai T. Erikson, a

community that loses its bond to a familiar structure, in this case, faith, is likely to become

unpredictable, violent and experience a rise in crime. The Cypriot depicts how the rise in criminal and violent activity also caused stricter rules to

be imposed by the British soldiers on the island, which resulted in punishments being enforced on

those who were suspected in criminal or even terroristic activity “they’d [the British] taken away

young men, and with them the spirit of the village. The young men had returned, but the spirit had

not” (209). The quote illustrates the people being broken in spirit and experiencing a shift in the

overall climate in the society. While before the English were disliked, in later portion of the novel

they are despised. While in the first part of the story the soldiers, albeit with some unfriendly

glares, were able to visit the local coffee-shops, in later parts they are spat on in the streets. A

community that was once depicted as warm and welcoming has progressively become an

antagonistic one.

At a similar time, a militarized underground group called EOKA established power in the

Christian community and dedicated itself to “the expulsion of the British and eventual union of

Cyprus with Greece” (51) in The Cypriot. EOKA is perceived as a “terrorist group” (51) by the

British and Muslim Cypriots and as fighters for freedom by the majority of the Christian Cypriots. The thoughts on EOKA by a British captain are presented in the following passage:

He knew that’s what in truth disturbed the British far more was how EOKA had so successfully managed to wind up the island’s previously manageable Christian population into a state of near frenzy. The influence of the small band of what the British press had termed “thugs” now extended into every coffee-shop, every school yard, every church. In just a few short months Grivas [bishop] had been elevated to messianic status and anyone British was now the enemy. (51)

The passage illustrates the growing influence an extremist group like EOKA can have over people

who are in a vulnerable position. A powerful need to be in charge of their own destiny by a group

that has been oppressed for many years and many generations results in justification of hate crimes.

Regardless of the activity of EOKA being terroristic, it is said in The Cypriot to have been

supported by the archbishop of Cyprus. His position was also strengthened due to the need of

having a leader who stands up for the common cause supported by the majority of the Christian

community. While opinions on EOKA vary, it influences the plot of the story in The Cypriot, since

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Andonis is directly and indirectly pushed into committing a hate crime against a Muslim Cypriot

who has intervened with the matters of EOKA by giving information to the English authorities in

Cyprus and, therefore, was claimed as a traitor. Not only does the murder Andonis and his close

friend commit traumatize Andonis personally but it is also the reason why he is forced to flee his

homeland, abandon his family and embark on an “aimless journey” (261) to a foreign land. Cypriots fleeing their war-torn home country and seeking refuge in the United Kingdom among

other places became common during that time, as the Cypriots are said to have been “chased out of

our homes, in only the clothes we wear” (273).

Being forced to abandon their home, life and community was one of the most impactful

consequences of the collective trauma that people of Cyprus endured in The Cypriot. It led to even

more collectively shared trauma. People are depicted to have fled “in only the clothes we wear”

(273) with all their possessions left behind as they were chased out of their homes. The Cypriots

who were forced to look for refuge were “shocked that, in a blink of an eye, their yesterdays had

been swept away” (272) and their lives was the only thing that they were left with. They no longer

had any belongings, therefore, no financial security, no community to look for help or support and

no home to return to. A large number of Cypriots abandoned their homeland altogether at that

point, in order to look for a safer place to settle. Andonis discusses his community’s behavior with

an Englishwoman named Ruth, as she observes:

‘[…] the Greeks – sorry Cypriots – I’ve come across seem too preoccupied with work and money and material things,’ she explained.

I nodded ‘They came over with wide eyes and empty bellies. They are used to working hard, but for someone else. Now, here in England, they can work for themselves. And for a better future for their children’ (140)

The collective trauma the Cypriots have experienced as they were ripped away from the security of

their home and belongings made them struggle to regain what was lost. As they were finally in an

environment that allowed for a better and safer life, the Cypriot emigrants formed a need to firstly

care for their own, individual material security and to rebuild their broken apart lives, rather than

try and salvage their community. The community – and more specifically a religious one - in their

collective consciousness was the thing which ultimately brought on such a disaster upon them. The

religious community that was once the foundation of their society is now perceived as no more than

a medium for spreading false truths and pushing an agenda for somebody else’s benefit: “Like fools

we sat there listening to the lies […] That’s all we’ve ever been told. Lies. All lies!” (273). Before

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the conflict between the two religious groups reached its peak, the hatred of the people had been

directed only at their neighboring community, but as the conflict grew into a war and proved itself

destructive for both sides of the struggle, the people started to feel resentment for their own

community and its past as well.

The character of Andonis is symbolic in that sense, and during the years of his forced exile

he describes himself as “a man cut off from his past and without a future” (152). His experience

could be perceived as a rendering of many collective experiences of the Cypriots suffering a similar

fate. The years of living in a foreign land are marked with guilt, shame and indifference for

Andonis, who now goes by “Tony” as an Anglicized version of his Cypriot name. He experiences

the feelings of guilt and shame due to the reason which made him abandon his home and because of

his inability to protect his family and community in the face of danger, he claims that “It’s like that

when you know you are to blame but at the same time you can’t put things right.” (203). Moreover,

by being forced out of his homeland, Andonis feels cut off from a part of his identity and finds it

difficult to find his place in a new reality. He explains his feelings in a conversation he has with a

retired British captain he met in his youth while still living in Cyprus:

‘Your life loses its meaning. Everything you thought for, everything you believed in, becomes an illusion. Gone forever […] I’ve felt like that ever since I came to this country,’ I admitted.

‘[…] England was to be your escape. Your chance for freedom. A new life, away from all the madness. Instead, it seems you’ve become a…’ He searched for an appropriate word.

‘Prisoner?’ I offered. ‘It’s what I deserve.’ (123)

This passage suggests how deeply distressed Andonis feels because of the collective trauma he

suffered as a part of Cypriot community. The said trauma left him, and the part of his community

he represents, unable to fully experience current life and future, detached from their native culture

and with no sense of community. The freedom Andonis supposedly has while living in refuge

means little to him because he is not able to put his past and the trauma suffered back then behind

him. He is left with a traumatized consciousness and memory of the oppression he had endured and

that his community and family are still enduring.

While living in London, Andonis finds himself in contact with a number of Cypriots as their

numbers in the foreign land keeps growing. Although he consciously avoids following the news or

even talking about his homeland, it is often impossible to evade. One of such situations occur as

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Andonis finds himself in a shop in a Cypriot neighborhood and overhears another Cypriot woman

talking to the shopkeeper:

She spoke passionately, in a language I understood. Of bitterness and impending doom. Of dark forces. Of the young being brainwashed. Of how it was up to us to mobilise, to go back and resist the evil taking over our land. (15)

The way Andonis regards his mother tongue as a language of “bitterness and impending doom”

suggests just how much he wishes to stay away from everything that is going on back in his

homeland. The vernacular itself reminds Andonis of what he had gone through and what he had

abandoned. He feels helpless and timid as he answers the Cypriot woman:

‘What can be done?’ I uttered eventually, a little self-consciously, in a language I now rarely spoke. I added after a moment that I felt it better not to concern myself with matters which I knew were beyond my control. […] Now even here, in this shop, I felt a foreigner. (15)

Such Andonis’s reaction implies that he deliberately tries to distance himself from the community

he was once a part of, as he does not feel capable of doing anything to change the situation in which

the country is currently in. This is quite a contrast to the young Andonis, which the reader was first

introduced to in the novel, who was not shy of taking a stance for his beliefs. Over the course of the

story and by enduring collective and personal trauma, Andonis shows a change of character and a

change in his value system. The said trauma can also be seen as to why he feels like and refers to

himself as “a foreigner”. Home implies a sense of belonging and feeling secure, which after

enduring the collective trauma of his community being ripped apart Andonis, and a part of the

Cypriot emigrants he represents, no longer has. When Andonis forces himself to finally return to his homeland and re-enter the community

he had abandoned, he is faced with the realization that the said community no longer exists. Years

of violence and trauma resulted in a destruction of the village and the community he lived in. Even

though Andonis still considers himself a Cypriot, as he returns to his war-torn home country, he

suddenly realizes that the home and the society he had left in all those years is gone, thus the

attachment he feels is now only linked to the nostalgia the place itself induces but not with what it is

right now. Once again, Andonis is left feeling as a foreigner. What further makes him feel alienated

in his own homeland are the horrific stories of life in Cyprus he is told by the people taking refuge

in a military base. The story Andonis hears from a man who was once his fellow villager is

followed by his remark: “[…] you’ve no idea what we’ve been through, Andoni, […] You don’t

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understand. “(274), which makes Andonis feel hurt, as if he was suddenly not considered a Cypriot

anymore and all those years he spent living in solitude was nothing and as though he “was no

different from the Englezos” (274). The trauma his community had undergone in his absence, had a

sort of a unifying element to it, which Andonis was not a part of. Therefore, a collective trauma can

have not only a separating effect on a community which was illustrated by an example of religious

communities in the Cypriot, but also an opposite one, which Andonis experience as a returning

emigrant.

4.2 The Level of an Individual

At the level of an individual, collective trauma in The Cypriot is portrayed through the love story of

Andonis and Funda and how Andonis’s character is contrasted with his friend, Nigos’s character.

As mentioned before, the novel is structured into two timelines and two settings, which eventually

intertwine at the very end of the novel. The collective trauma on the level of an individual is best

presented in the first timeline of the novel which takes place in Cyprus. One of the main plot points that the reader is presented with in the said timeline is the love

story developing between Andonis and Funda. The star-crossed lovers bare a similarity to the

renowned Romeo and Juliet, as they are kept apart by the animosity between their kin but unlike

Romeo and Juliet they are separated not only by a dispute in their families but by hostility on a

larger, communal scale. Through narration of various characters, Andonis is described as “an

honourable man, like his father. And handsome too.” (153) and “a man who […] had his own trade

and with it his own mind” (125) and the reader learns about his “own mind” and morals that usually

contradict the outlook of his community on many occasions. The Andonis that the reader is

introduced to in the chapters taking place in Cyprus is young and deliberately oblivious to the

hostility brewing in his own community because he is not yet directly affected by it. Andonis is

portrayed as not afraid of crossing into a Muslim neighborhood for a cup of coffee, he works as a

tailor and when approached by a British captain and offered a job repairing British soldiers’

uniforms, he takes the job willingly, as “those are just clothes and they are just people doing their

job”(113). He does not associate the British with the decay of his community, even though many

people already do so. Andonis takes up the job given to him by a British captain and also shares a

friendly bond with him, which is perceived as a traitorous act in the eyes of his community. He does

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not hide his views as he is a young man consumed with a feeling of being right. Andonis even

argues with his father about voicing their opinions:

‘You don’t know how much you disappoint me, baba. You’d compromise all your ideals for the sake of an easy life.’ (65)

For Andonis one’s ideals are still what he believes to be the most important part of a person’s

identity. The young Andonis is still sheltered from the reality of world he lives in and has not yet

suffered from a collective trauma rooted in his community’s memory. His father Mihalis, on the

other hand, is a person who has experienced injustice one can suffer because of one’s ideals.

Because of such experiences, he is cautious about his words saying that:

‘I saw police shoot my best friend. He gave his life for what we both believed in. And what good did it do? Nothing. I knew from then that the only thing that mattered in life what is life itself and the safety of my family.’ (65)

Mihalis acknowledges the danger his community holds on individuals voicing their discrepant

opinions and consciously chooses to rather live a quiet life than to disturb the order and suffer the

consequences of that. Thus, his father is displaying an effect a collective trauma of being oppressed

has on people. Individuals holding opposing ideals to the majority become afraid to voice and

express their opinions even while facing injustice.

As a contrast, the young protagonist is not troubled with such concerns and the first time

Andonis is shown interacting with Funda, his love interest throughout the novel, he joins her and

her crippled brother performing in the street and help them earn more money, an act which is

frowned upon by both Christian and Muslim communities. The conversation Andonis later has with

his friend Nigos illustrates the way their community views this action:

‘You just don’t see it, do you? The shame you brought on us’ he [Nigos] puffed.

‘Shame? Since when was it so shameful to help a poor crippled boy and his sister?’

Nigos laughed ironically. ‘We are the cripples, Andoni. And they are the ones who cripple us. And what do you do? Sing for the Turk, dance for the Turk, kiss the arse of the Turk.’ (53)

This short passage displays two different perspectives on Andonis’s act of simple kindness – one

that Andonis shares in his household and was taught by his family, and one that represents the

overall outlook of the community both Andonis and Nigos are a part of. As the story progresses and

the situation in Cyprus becomes more and more violent, Andonis loses his idealistic views and

becomes more cautious of the consequences his words and actions might have on his and his

family’s safety, but at the beginning of the novel he is quite bold in his choices. The fact that he

pursues Funda in the first place insinuates his disregard to the unspoken law within the community,

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which clearly implies that there should be no close relations between Christian and Muslim

Cypriots. It is stated that the situation had not always been like that: “Funda and Andonis had

played together when they were little. Muslim and Christian children often did in those days.

Indeed, wise people, like Andonis’s late grandmother Maria, encouraged it” (68) but the bond the

two shared in their childhood disappeared as societal viewpoint had shifted. Now, the relationship

Andonis pursues is not supported by neither his, nor Funda’s family, which makes them see each

other in secret and eventually leads to the two lovers breaking up their relationship. The break up is

hard on both of them and Andonis never truly moves on from his young love, as he never marries

or has a close relationship with a woman through the years of living alone in London. The traumatic

experience he suffered through as a young man, made him emotionally shut off and numb. When he

is asked about whether he wishes to have had children, Andonis replies: “I prefer not to wish”

(168), which indicates not the lack of the idea in his mind itself but rather his passive refusal to

even consider it. Andonis, as a character, is also someone who is prone to having somewhat passive

reactions. Both as an adolescent, but even more so as a middle-aged man, he is not really someone

fully and actively invested into the conflict around him, but rather someone whose life is affected

because of the unfortunate circumstances that surround him. Andonis is pushed into many of his

decisions by people around him and that also shows how a completely passive approach to an

intercommunal conflict is not possible. Whether a person is an active participant of that conflict or

not, the violence has a way of reaching and affecting everyone’s lives within the community.

Another way of how collective trauma in The Cypriot is exemplified is Nigos’s character.

Nigos, while being a close friend of Andonis, is a character that can appear to be the complete

opposite of him. The two young men share close to none of their ideals and Nigos’s character is

continuously described as “Proud. Loyal. Fearless.” (73) and most frequently “reckless” (73).

While Andonis is a man of honour and ideals, Nigos is a man of action, which has a tendency of

being rash and not considered thoroughly. More importantly, Nigos is protective of his family and

often openly displays hatred and hostility towards everyone outside of his community, as he sees

those people as a threat. Such reactions are explained as being caused by a trauma Nigos and his

family endured when he was a child and suffered a loss of his father:

Some young Muslim policemen under British command stopped them [Nigos’s father and friends] at a bridge and insisted that permission was needed to cross it. Outraged at having their freedom of movement restricted, the group protested forcefully, led by Nigos’s

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father. The inexperienced policemen felt foolish and intimidated. In panic one of them opened fire and shot Nigos’s father dead. […]

The British authorities expressed regret that the behavior of their police force and promised to bring to justice those responsible. There was an enquiry, but no report was published and the episode was forgotten.

But Nigos would never forget. (56)

The conflict, in which Nigos’s father was shot, is depicted as not a provoked action, it happened

simply due to the uncertainty and turmoil within the community. Due to this fact, Nigos was

directly affected by the meaningless intercommunal violence from a very young age. He grew up in

a broken family with stories of how “Turkish dogs and their Englezi masters” (76) took away his

father. Thus, over the years, he grew to despise anyone who, in his opinion, indicates even the

slightest threat to his community or family, whether it’s the Muslim Cypriots or the English

soldiers. Nigos is portrayed as a character who loathes the Muslim community on numerous

occasions and is the one who continuously belittles Funda as Andonis’s love interest, reffering to

her as “worse than an Englezi whore” (54). Nigos is also depicted as a supporter of EOKA from the

early pages of the novel and is eventually the one who joins it to fight for the freedom of his

community. He is not driven by religion or the long history of oppression in his homeland, he does

so for mainly personal reasons. Nigos gets the final push to join the EOKA after he and his cousin

commit a crime and assault a British soldier. The two young Cypriots are said to have taken the

assault too far and the soldier dies. Nigos knows that the crime he committed is punishable by

death, therefore he does not have any other choice but to go into hiding and join the EOKA. Thus,

the reason why Nigos joins the fight is not entirely selfless or patriotic. He does so because he has

no other options as he is wanted by the authorities for committing a brutal crime. Nevertheless, he

does regard EOKA as an upstanding organization and supports their ideals. As Nigos leaves for

EOKA, he tries to persuade Andonis to join him too. As Andonis asks what is the reason for Nigos

to join a dangerous and terroristic group, Nigos explains it as being:

‘Years and years of oppression. Of having our land and the fruits of our labour stolen. Of being looked down on by inferior people who believe they are superior. Of being treated like children, like pieces in a game of tavlin. Of seeing my mother in black, bringing us up on her own.’ (175)

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These reasons, which Nigos expresses, do reflect a collective opinion of a part of his community as

well, but a big portion of them are solely personal, stemming from his individually suffered trauma.

Whether or not he truly believes in the reasons he gives can be debated, as Nigos voices similar

ideas on numerous occasions, but his contempt for the Muslim Cypriots and the English officers

can also be seen as somewhat habitual, coming from beliefs he acquired from his surroundings

during his childhood, when he was the most susceptible. Thus, one may arrive at a consensus that

perhaps Nigos cannot be held fully accountable for his rash, reckless and violent actions, as he was

forced to make them as a member of a dysfunctional society. The actions that were mentioned do

not go unacknowledged and eventually lead to Nigos’s death, suggesting that fueling pre-exsisting

hatred and living for revenge cannot be a sustainable way of living. Nigos, among a number of

other characters, is very much someone who portrays the human sacrifice the pointless violence in

Cyprus had caused.

5. Conclusion

This thesis discusses the depiction of the concept of collective trauma in the novel The Cypriot and

focuses on what impact the said collective trauma has on the community as a whole and on a single

individual. As it was mentioned, collective trauma, among other types trauma, is one of the central

issues depicted in literature. Nevertheless, a sole definition for collective trauma is difficult to

distinguish, as it is a concept that affects various social groups and is dependant on many variables,

such as the extent of its effects. This idea is provided in the novel that is chosed for this analysis: in

order to cover as many of the variables as possible, Andreas Koumi’s The Cypriot portrays

collective trauma from two perspectives. Those are a perspective of a community and a perspective

of an individual.

The analysis of the novel shows that from the perspective of a community and from the

perspective of an individual the collective trauma has a lasting effect, which means it affects not

one, but few subsequent generations of a community. The novel presents a Cypriot community with

a far-reaching history of conquerors and oppressors, which feels a need to strive for freedom

without having a clear idea of what freedom or independence entails. Since belonging to some

foreign authority is all the community was accustomed to over the last few hundred of years, an

idea of belonging or being a part of some larger unit is rooted deeply into the communal

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consciousness of the people. Which is why one part of the community in The Cypriot is set on

achieving union with Greece, while other seeks union with Turkey. Moreover, such traumatic

situation influences communal bonds within the society as well. Religion, which is a big part of

cultural identity in The Cypriot, is no longer a unfying element for the community but rather a

dividing one. Religion becomes one of the main separating elements in the community depicted in

The Cypriot and a divided community culminates in mass intercommunal violence and brutality.

Since a big portion of the said violence was justified in terms of religion, a large number of people

associate the concequences of the violence with religion and its influence as well. Thus, collective

trauma is not only able to severe communal bonds, but can also alienate people from their belief

system. Solely from the perspective of an individual, collective trauma in The Cypriot is depicted as

having a lasting effect on personal lives of the characters in The Cypriot. The analysis mentions two

characters, the protagonist Andonis and his close friend Nigos. Andonis is portrayed as more of a

passive character who tries not to involve himself into the conflict that surrounds his community,

while Nigos takes a more active approach and adds to the violence. Regardless, both of these

characters are affected by the collective trauma on a personal level, meaning that a completely

passive approach to intercommunal violence is not possible and all the people within the

community are affected by the said trauma.

To conclude, collective trauma influences various aspects of communal and individual

consciousness. Whether exploring the level of an individual or the level of community, collective

trauma still displays signs of being a greatly negative influence overall.

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Works Cited

Alexander, Jeffrey, et al. Cultural Trauma and Collective Identity. Berkeley: California UP. 2004.

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Alexander, Jeffrey. Trauma: A social theory. Cambridge: Polity. 2012. Print.

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Appendix 1: Plot summary of The Cypriot

The story in Andreas Koumi’s novel the Cypriot revolves around a small village located on the

island of Cyprus and the lives of its people around the time when intercommunal conflict between

the island’s Muslim and Christian communities reached its peak.

The plot focuses on the main character Andonis, who is depicted as both a young man, living in the

Christian Community in Cyprus and as middle-aged man, living his life as an immigrant in the

United Kingdom. As a young man, Andonis is a tailor, spending his carefree days in a workshop.

One day, he re-encounters Funda, a Muslim girl he used to be familiar with, and suddently feels

attraction towards her. His feelings are reciprocated and the two lovers begin seeing each other in

secret, as their romance would not be supported by their opposing families and communities. In the

background of their love story, tensions between the island’s two main religious groups grow and

erupt in acts of mass violence and brutality. As the climate in their respective communities change,

Andonis and Funda realize that there is no way for their relationship to exist, therefore, Funda

arranges a marriage to a Muslim goatherd to conceal their affair and hide her pregnancy. Andonis is

not aware of the said pregnancy, which is why Funda’s actions come as a heartbreaking surprise to

him. As the lovers are broken apart, other destructive actions take place in the Cypriot communities

when Andonis’s friend Nigos and his cousin, who is a part of the EOKA, assault and kill a British

soldier. This is a crime punishable by death, which is why, with information provided by Funda’s

betrothed goatherd, Nigos’s cousin is caught and hanged and Nigos is said to suffer a similar fate if

he gets caught. Nigos hides by joining the EOKA, but craves revenge for his cousin’s death. He

seeks out Andonis and persuades him to take revenge on the goatherd. The two young men attack

the goatherd, Nigos is killed by him resisting and Andonis shoots the goatherd, killing him. Afraid

to be charged with this crime, Andonis hides out in the outskirts of the village, but eventually

returns to his family and is arrested by the British officers for murder. He is imprisoned and

tortured, but then is saved by a British captain with whom he shared a friendship. In order to save

his life Andonis must leave Cyprus and seek refuge in the United Kingdom, as many of the

Cypriots who flee their homecountry for various reasons do.

The second part of the novel takes place in London, where Andonis lives his life in refuge and

constant feeling of guilt and shame. He feels disattached from his community and culture and does

not keep in touch with his family which is left in Cyprus, until one day he meets the now retired

British captain who once helped him save his life and is reminded of his homeland, his love for

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Funda and his family and learns about their daughter that Funda had in his absence. Andonis feels

the need to reconnect with his past life and travels back to war-torn Cyprus after the worst

brutalities have already passed. He still experiences the horrors that his community faced from the

stories of the people he encounters and is deeply distressed by them. In the final chapter of the

novel, Andonis is able to find and reconnect with his mother, Funda and his daughter and the novel

ends on an optimistic note that violence in Cyprus is coming to an end and they may experience a

happy life together despite all the sufferings.