Basil Lee's Reputation In The Freshest Boy By F. Scott Fitzgerald

In the short story “The Freshest Boy” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Dr. Bacon sees through Basil Lee’s bad reputation to his true character. Even if you had never met Basil, you probably would not have liked him just based on the rumors surrounding him at the start of the story. Basil had “become the scapegoat, the immediate villain, the sponge which absorbed all malice and irritability abroad”(94). Most people who hear about his reputation leave his company immediately; a perfect example of this is Treadway, Basil’s roommate who just transferred to the school. At first, Treadway thinks Basil is a normal student; however, upon hearing what Brick Wales has to say about Basil, he transfers out of his dorm immediately. Dr. Bacon, on the other hand,