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As one of the long-standing foundations of Western culture, Homer’s Odyssey helps to sustain our very image, continuing and pervasive, of society. Homer shows what it means to be a civilized man or woman in the fabric of the civilization. Homer holds an idealized vision of the relationships among social, economic, and religious customs that define civilization. The suitors in Ithika and Polyphêmos the Kyklops are both in opposition to this vision and Odysseus’ actions on both accounts are ways of correcting things corrupt and uncivilized.
The exemplary civilization to Homer is founded on justice and respect. Telémakhos, a character Homer intends as a model, says “If you choose / to slaughter one man’s livestock and pay nothing…you shall get what you deserve: / a slaughter” (Odyssey, 1.426-30). This mirrors Zeus’ sentiments on the importance of justice in the opening scene (O., 1.55-62). To Homer, justice is quintessential to society. Respect follows closely from this value. Homer expects men to respect the gods, the law, their rulers, their subjects. Ultimately, men must respect the hierarchy in place and accept their role in that system.
Polyphêmos is shown to be devoid of the necessities of civilized living: he is ignorant of the gods, and without intelligence, law or custom. Odysseus narrates,
In the next land we found were Kyclopês
giants, louts, without a law to bless them
…
no consultation or old tribal ways
but each one dwells in his own mountain cave
dealing out rough justice to wife and child
(O., 9.113-23)

The Kyklopês impose their natural and brutish force on everything in their domain. They do not have regard for the blessing of law, nor do they have patience for agriculture or art (O., 9.115.20). These traits are inherently contradictory to the concept of community, and specifically contradictory to the ideal civilization...