Edna’s close friend and almost-lover, Robert Lebrun is a wealthy, charming twenty-six-year-old man without any apparent occupation besides befriending pretty married women. After spending most of the summer in each other’s company, Edna and Robert develop a strong romantic attachment to one another, and in an effort to protect Edna, Robert flees to Mexico under the pretense of a business opportunity. He is absent during most of the novel except as the idealized, illicit object of Edna’s love. Despite his irreverence and easy humor, Robert ultimately does not have the courage to love Edna without the sanction of marriage.
Robert Lebrun Quotes in The Awakening
The The Awakening quotes below are all either spoken by Robert Lebrun or refer to Robert Lebrun. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 36
Quotes
You have been a very, very foolish boy, wasting your time dreaming of impossible things when you speak of Mr. Pontellier setting me free! I am no longer one of Mr. Pontellier’s possessions to dispose of or not. I give myself where I choose. If he were to say, ‘Here, Robert, take her and be happy; she is yours,’ I should laugh at you both.
Related Characters:
Edna Pontellier (speaker), Robert Lebrun, Léonce Pontellier
Related Themes:
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Explanation and Analysis:
It was you who awoke me last summer out of a life-long, stupid dream.
Related Characters:
Edna Pontellier (speaker), Robert Lebrun
Related Themes:
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Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 39
Quotes
There was no one thing in the world that she desired. There was no human being whom she wanted near her except Robert; and she even realized that the day would come when he, too, and the thought of him would melt out of her existence, leaving her alone. The children appeared before her like antagonists who had overcome her; who had overpowered and sought to drag her into the soul’s slavery for the rest of her days. But she knew a way to elude them.
Related Characters:
Edna Pontellier, Robert Lebrun, Etienne and Raoul Pontellier
Related Symbols:
The Sea
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
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Robert Lebrun Character Timeline in The Awakening
The timeline below shows where the character Robert Lebrun appears in The Awakening. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1
As he smokes a cigar, Pontellier watches his wife and Robert Lebrun walking towards him from the beach. When they reach him, he reproaches his wife...
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...to Klein’s, a nearby hotel, to play billiards and perhaps to eat dinner. He invites Robert, but the young man declines in favor of Mrs. Pontellier’s company.
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Chapter 2
...yellow-brown hair and eyes, which are inward-looking and contemplative. She is lovely and reserved, while Robert is bright and carefree; they are similar in appearance. She and Robert talk easily about...
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Chapter 4
...arrives. Mrs. Pontellier takes up some sewing as well, though it doesn’t much interest her; Robert watches them idly. We learn from the narrator that Mrs. Pontellier had never spent much...
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Chapter 5
As Madame Ratignolle sews, Robert and Mrs. Pontellier chat intimately. Robert has been spending a great deal of time with...
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Robert compliments her drawing, but Mrs. Pontellier does not think much of it. He tries to...
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Chapter 6
Edna Pontellier wonders why she followed Robert to the beach, though she had not wanted to go. She is beginning to become...
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Chapter 7
...and she loves her children only intermittently. Edna confesses most of this to Madame Ratignolle. Robert and the children approach them; Madame Ratignolle leaves the beach with Robert.
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Chapter 8
On their way from the beach, Madame Ratignolle asks Robert to keep away from Mrs. Pontellier, who, she says, might take his attentions too seriously....
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Robert calls down to the street to his impetuous younger brother Victor, who rides away without...
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Chapter 9
...Pontellier dances for a while and then retreats to the windowsill to observe the party. Robert offers to ask Mademoiselle Reisz, a talented musician and a cantankerous spinster, to play the...
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Chapter 10
Robert convinces the party to go to the beach. The women walk with their husbands, and...
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Robert joins her; Edna describes her overwhelming response to the music and her estrangement from the...
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Chapter 12
...morning, when others are sleeping or in church, she sends a servant girl to get Robert—a liberty she had never taken before. They eat a quick breakfast and go to mass...
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Chapter 13
Edna grows very tired and weak during the service, so she and Robert leave the church and go to rest in the house of Madame Antoine, a Creole...
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Chapter 14
When she comes home that night with Robert, Edna takes Etienne and Raoul from Madame Ratignolle, who had been watching them, and helps...
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Chapter 15
...comes into the dining room to find a noisy discussion: the vacationers are talking about Robert’s sudden decision to leave immediately for Mexico. He had not mentioned it to Edna, and...
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...from the Lebruns, but Edna declines for now. Outside, she complains to Madame Ratignolle about Robert’s dramatic decision; her friend leaves to say goodbye to Robert soon after.
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Later still, Robert comes to tell Edna goodbye. Edna talks to him with irritation; he stammers and promises...
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Chapter 16
...walks to the beach one morning with Mademoiselle Reisz, Edna reflects on her response to Robert’s sudden departure. She thinks of him all the time, and feels disinterested in the life...
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She talks to Mademoiselle Reisz about Robert on their way to the beach. Edna says that Madame Lebrun must miss her son,...
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Chapter 18
...house to visit Madame Ratignolle. As on most occasions, she thinks a great deal about Robert. When she reaches her friend’s house, Edna asks Madame Ratignolle for her opinion of Edna’s...
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Chapter 20
...Madame Lebrun’s entrance happily interrupts the story. Victor recites the two letters they’d received from Robert: they are factual and spare. Edna despairs to hear that he didn’t include any message...
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Chapter 21
...Edna would accept her invitation. When Edna learns that Mlle Reisz has a letter from Robert, she convinces the older woman to let her read it. The letter mentions her very...
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Chapter 26
As usual, Edna reads the most recent letter from Robert while Mademoiselle Reisz plays piano. Robert does not know that Edna sees his letters; Mademoiselle...
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Chapter 28
...her husband in the form of the house around her, and by her love for Robert. The kiss makes her see the world very vividly; her only regret is that this...
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Chapter 33
While Edna waits for Mademoiselle Reisz, she plays a song on the piano. Suddenly, Robert comes in. She is dismayed to hear that he has been back in New Orleans...
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Robert walks Edna home. He refuses her invitation to dinner, but decides to stay when he...
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Chapter 34
Edna and Robert talk pleasantly over dinner. Edna asks jealously about an embroidered tobacco pouch Robert had received...
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...and ignores his flirtations. After he leaves, she thinks sadly of her incomplete reunion with Robert.
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Chapter 35
...a renewed cheerfulness the next morning, and thinks with pleasure of her future friendship with Robert. She receives letters from her son, her husband, and Arobin. She answers her husband, who...
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She is sad that Robert does not come to see her that day, nor any other day. She always hopes...
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Chapter 36
...usually run into friends there, she looks up from her book one afternoon to see Robert. He seems uncomfortable, but she invites him to share her dinner. Edna presses him to...
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Robert walks Edna home. They come in without a word. Edna leaves for a moment; when...
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Chapter 38
Robert is not waiting for her at home. She does find a note from him: it...
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Chapter 39
...Isle and telling Mariequita about Edna’s glamorous party. She becomes jealous of Edna, and tells Robert haughtily that she could have many other lovers if she wanted to; Victor’s passionate and...
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After Robert left that night, Edna sat up thinking about her indifference for the people around her;...
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