Letters 33 - 45 Summary

Usbek writes to Gemchid in Letter 33 seeking his opinion of Christians. Usbek sees many parallels between his religion and that of the Christians, the only difference being that the Christians do not believe in Muhammad or Ali. In Letter 34 Usbek writes to Rhedi about Paris coffee houses. Although he writes that those who visit these houses feel smarter when they leave than when they entered, they waste their intelligence arguing about unimportant matters. In one instance where the people are arguing about birthplace and time of death of a Greek poet, Usbek wonders how much more violent the arguments might be if there were actually a living person about whom to argue.

In Letter 36, Rica writes about the debate in different parts of the world concerning the rights of women. They wonder if women should be subject to men and if...