Compare the savage with the civilized man
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While the denotation of civilization is an advanced state of human society in which a high level of art, science, religion, and government has been reached, there are, indeed, people in such environments who are not civilized. There is a clever story written by Witi Ihimaera entitled "His First Ball" which recalls Katherine Mansfield's "Her First Ball," a short story about the first ball attended by a young English girl who has grown up in the outback of Australia and has not acquired all the experience as have the other young civilized ladies in attendance who ridicule one another. In the story, Ihimaera, himself an indigenous person of Australia, Tuta Wharepapa receives and invitation to a ball given by the English. Later, he discovers that he is invited to provide entertainment for other guests. But, in defiance he and an extremely tall young lady, who is also a curiosity, dance together. Tuta analyzes the situation and arrives at the definition of what it means to be truly civilized:
Dance, but using his own steps. Listen, also, not to the music of the band but to the music in his head....But they needed to come in on their own terms....as real people they were and not as carbon copies of the people already on the inside.
list Cite link LinkASHLEY KANNAN | CERTIFIED EDUCATOR
The distinction between both terms have been used to justify some of the worst treatment of one human being at the hands of another. Throughout the period of Colonization and Imperialism, nations such as those within Europe and America were seen as "civilized" society whose primary function was to bring civilization to the "savage" worlds of other nations, whose individuals were, for the most part, of color. These indigenous people were seen as savages because they lived a way of life and represented a mode of existence which was different than the established "norm" of Europe or America. These "savages" needed to be "civilized" by the refinement and perceived superiority of the West. In the final analysis, there can be little criteria to substantiate such a claim, and one could even argue that the subjugation of entire races of people, economic and social exploitation, as well as the development of enslavement as a practice might have actually shown the "civilized" nations behaving in a more "savage" manner than any indigenous person could have ever tried to be.