Walter E. Rex has suggested that Diderot's claim in Supplément au Voyage de Bougainville that women should not be the property of men is contradicted by the letter that he writes to Angélique, his daughter, on her wedding day. Here, discussing how his daughter should act once married, Diderot asserts that a wife should obey and give pleasure to her husband, respect him at all times, and keep him entertained in order to guarantee that he will not leave her; Diderot even says that her whole existence is to ensure that her husband is satisfied. The submission that Diderot enjoins is contrary to the liberation displayed in the Tahitian lifestyle in Supplément au Voyage de Bougainville. a sign perhaps of his uncertainty regarding the extent to which it can serve as a model for imitation in present-day European society.
