Many different groups make up the world's human population. Everyone differentiates themselves from others based on their customs, traditions, language and culture, thinking that what they have is best. When two groups or people from different civilizations come into contact, in theory both groups believe that their way of life is the more sophisticated and the other's is the wilder, but more often there is little difference between the two. groups. Murder is a savage crime, and yet both sides are able to explain it away through their traditions, making it acceptable to themselves and appalling if the other side does it, but in reality, murder is a cruel act and no matter who commits it, they are committing an uncivilized act. In the Greek epic Odyssey, Polyphemus, the Cyclops is seen as a wild beast, who does not follow the customs of the Greeks and is therefore condemned as a brute. He eats several men who had accompanied Odysseus, and this act further adds to his “savagery” in the eyes of the Greeks. However, if he is a savage simply because he did not follow the rules of Greek society and committed murder, wouldn't Odysseus be a savage beast for murdering all the suitors and servants instead of subjecting them to “civilized” justice, after all her patron goddess is the goddess of justice and wisdom? Wouldn't his men be considered savages for eating the Sun God's cattle after being told they were sacred? If it is the savages who do not follow customs and commit murder, then the whole epic is about savages and not heroes. In Voltaire's Candide, savagery hides under the pretexts of civilized law, where one can burn villages according to the law, rape and sell women without any punishment.... middle of paper .... .. watches these stories without identifying with anyone, it becomes obvious that there is little difference between the savage and the civilized. If murder is a savage crime, then Odysseus was just as savage as Polyphemus, but what makes Odysseus worse is that his actions affected more people than Polyphemus' cannibalism, but he is still considered a hero for his behavior. In turn, Candide is no more civilized than the Lobeiros tribe, since he has committed murders before, but he justifies his act, just as acts of murder, rape and mutilation are justified if they are committed by the inner group, what we call the civilized world. Therefore, the true savagery of people, exemplified by Odysseus and Candide, manifests itself in ignorance and rigidity, but there is a certain kind of comedy in the fact that nothing has actually changed since the beginning of time..