The Freshest Boy
Encyclopedia
The Freshest Boy is a short story by American
writer F. Scott Fitzgerald
. It was first published in The Saturday Evening Post
28 July 1928. It was reprinted in Fitzgerald's 1935 collection, Taps at Reveille
.
, is characterized as naive and dreamy. He is thus treated as an outcast among his peers as well as by the school's administrators.
Lee's naivete is contrasted with the experienced perspective of an upperclassman, Lewis Crum. Crum resents Lee's noncommitance to tradition, as well as his carefree nature. The two boys begin to develop a competitive relationship, and it becomes clear Lee is internally adjusted to the environment while outwardly aloof and unhappy. Unlike Lewis, however, Crum comes from wealth and this gives him a palpable advantage at the school.
Lee is castigated by the school's headmaster over his low grades and we learn his family is not of much money, as a matter of fact he is one of the "poorest boys in a rich school." This causes him obvious shame, and the story's focus shifts to Basil's hopes for an off-campus excursion to New York City. Instead he ventures out to a suburb and interacts with a boy that seems to have an emotional disability of some kind.
Escaping the stifling atmosphere of the school, Basil finally ends up going to New York City and has lunch at the Manhattan Hotel. It is there he reads a letter from his mother. The theme of homesickness is evident throughout the work. The letter informs Lee he will be going abroad and will thus not be attending the school anymore. Initially, he is elated by the news.
The last section of the story takes place within the theater as Lee's thoughts turn to his future. He feels like actors following the course of a play he has a destiny. Although he seeks to escape the turgid atmosphere of the preparatory school, he also believes he must actualize his fate and this includes college. After the play the school official who accompanies him gets intoxicated and falls asleep at a table. When returning to the school, Lee is called a nickname but he is not ashamed, nor mortified by the prospect of being an outcast any longer. He realizes he is accepted, to the point where it will serve his needs, and falls alseep satisfied.
. Some of Basil Duke Lee's details bear some resemblance to his own including growing up in the Midwest. The story, like many Fitzgerald published at the time, was well received by readers.
. It has also been collected in The Basil and Josephine Stories
, as well as Malcolm Cowley's
The Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald and in Matthew J. Bruccoli's The Short Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald.
review of Taps at Reveille, critic Edith Walton wrote, "Poignant as well as amusing [are] the longer sequence of stories which deals with a pre-war boy in his middle teens. Though his method is different from Booth Tarkingtion's
, Mr. Fitzgerald approaches at times the same startling veracity. Basil Duke Lee is a bright, sensitive, likeable boy, constantly betrayed by a fatal tendency to brag and boss. He knows his failing, especially after the minor hell of his first year at boarding school, but again and again he is impelled to ruin an initial good impression. Two of the Basil stories—'He Thinks He's Wonderful' and 'The Perfect Life'—are small masterpieces of humor and perception, and Mr. Fitzgerald is always miraculously adept at describing adolescent love affairs and adolescent swagger."
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
writer F. Scott Fitzgerald
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was an American author of novels and short stories, whose works are the paradigm writings of the Jazz Age, a term he coined himself. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. Fitzgerald is considered a member of the "Lost...
. It was first published in The Saturday Evening Post
The Saturday Evening Post
The Saturday Evening Post is a bimonthly American magazine. It was published weekly under this title from 1897 until 1969, and quarterly and then bimonthly from 1971.-History:...
28 July 1928. It was reprinted in Fitzgerald's 1935 collection, Taps at Reveille
Taps at Reveille
Taps at Reveille is a collection of 18 short stories by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It was the fourth and final collection of short stories Fitzgerald published in his lifetime...
.
Plot
The story centers around a boy and his discouragement while attending a preparatory school. The character, Basil Duke LeeThe Basil and Josephine Stories
The Basil and Josephine Stories are a collection of short stories by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The title characters were intended by Fitzgerald to meet each other but this never happened in his literature....
, is characterized as naive and dreamy. He is thus treated as an outcast among his peers as well as by the school's administrators.
Lee's naivete is contrasted with the experienced perspective of an upperclassman, Lewis Crum. Crum resents Lee's noncommitance to tradition, as well as his carefree nature. The two boys begin to develop a competitive relationship, and it becomes clear Lee is internally adjusted to the environment while outwardly aloof and unhappy. Unlike Lewis, however, Crum comes from wealth and this gives him a palpable advantage at the school.
Lee is castigated by the school's headmaster over his low grades and we learn his family is not of much money, as a matter of fact he is one of the "poorest boys in a rich school." This causes him obvious shame, and the story's focus shifts to Basil's hopes for an off-campus excursion to New York City. Instead he ventures out to a suburb and interacts with a boy that seems to have an emotional disability of some kind.
Escaping the stifling atmosphere of the school, Basil finally ends up going to New York City and has lunch at the Manhattan Hotel. It is there he reads a letter from his mother. The theme of homesickness is evident throughout the work. The letter informs Lee he will be going abroad and will thus not be attending the school anymore. Initially, he is elated by the news.
The last section of the story takes place within the theater as Lee's thoughts turn to his future. He feels like actors following the course of a play he has a destiny. Although he seeks to escape the turgid atmosphere of the preparatory school, he also believes he must actualize his fate and this includes college. After the play the school official who accompanies him gets intoxicated and falls asleep at a table. When returning to the school, Lee is called a nickname but he is not ashamed, nor mortified by the prospect of being an outcast any longer. He realizes he is accepted, to the point where it will serve his needs, and falls alseep satisfied.
History
The story was written when Fitzgerald was arguably at the height of his creative powers. It is part of the Basil and Josephine series and was composed during his toils over Tender is the NightTender is the Night
Tender Is the Night is a novel by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. It was his fourth and final completed novel, and was first published in Scribner's Magazine between January-April, 1934 in four issues...
. Some of Basil Duke Lee's details bear some resemblance to his own including growing up in the Midwest. The story, like many Fitzgerald published at the time, was well received by readers.
Collections
"The Freshest Boy" was reprinted in Fitzgerald's 1935 collection Taps at ReveilleTaps at Reveille
Taps at Reveille is a collection of 18 short stories by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It was the fourth and final collection of short stories Fitzgerald published in his lifetime...
. It has also been collected in The Basil and Josephine Stories
The Basil and Josephine Stories
The Basil and Josephine Stories are a collection of short stories by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The title characters were intended by Fitzgerald to meet each other but this never happened in his literature....
, as well as Malcolm Cowley's
Malcolm Cowley
Malcolm Cowley was an American novelist, poet, literary critic, and journalist.-Early life:...
The Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald and in Matthew J. Bruccoli's The Short Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Reception
In The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
review of Taps at Reveille, critic Edith Walton wrote, "Poignant as well as amusing [are] the longer sequence of stories which deals with a pre-war boy in his middle teens. Though his method is different from Booth Tarkingtion's
Booth Tarkington
Booth Tarkington was an American novelist and dramatist best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning novels The Magnificent Ambersons and Alice Adams...
, Mr. Fitzgerald approaches at times the same startling veracity. Basil Duke Lee is a bright, sensitive, likeable boy, constantly betrayed by a fatal tendency to brag and boss. He knows his failing, especially after the minor hell of his first year at boarding school, but again and again he is impelled to ruin an initial good impression. Two of the Basil stories—'He Thinks He's Wonderful' and 'The Perfect Life'—are small masterpieces of humor and perception, and Mr. Fitzgerald is always miraculously adept at describing adolescent love affairs and adolescent swagger."