Stella Dallas by Olive Higgins Prouty
"Stella Dallas" by Olive Higgins Prouty is a notable novel from the 1920s that delves into the complexities of social class and reputation in a rapidly changing American society. The story follows Stella Dallas, a young woman whose independent and carefree demeanor clashes with the social expectations of her time. After her husband leaves her, Stella faces the reality of her choices as she realizes that her behavior is adversely affecting her daughter, Laurel, who is at risk of losing her social standing and potential marriage prospects because of her mother's reputation.
Stella's journey reflects the struggles of many women in that era, who were navigating newfound freedoms while still contending with societal pressures. Her willingness to sacrifice her own happiness for Laurel's success, even marrying a man her daughter dislikes, highlights the lengths a parent will go to ensure their child's future. The novel's emotional depth has led to its adaptation into multiple films and a successful radio serial, underscoring its cultural impact and resonance with audiences, particularly women, during the Roaring Twenties. Overall, "Stella Dallas" serves as a poignant commentary on the tension between personal desires and societal expectations.
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Stella Dallas by Olive Higgins Prouty
Identification: A novel about a single mother’s fight for her daughter’s happiness
Author: Olive Higgins Prouty
Date: 1923
One of the most popular novels of the 1920s, Stella Dallas explores a changing American society in which social class and good breeding still account for a great deal in establishing a young woman’s reputation. The novel’s main character fails to realize that her brash and independent ways have made her a social outcast until her daughter begins to suffer because of her mother’s blithe ignorance of social standards.
Olive Higgins Prouty’s novel Stella Dallas resonated strongly among women readers who were keenly aware of the measures one must take to preserve one’s reputation in the so-called Roaring Twenties. Stella Dallas, a young woman who marries well but does not understand her social responsibilities, is faced with challenges after her husband leaves her and she must learn to chart a new course in life for herself and her daughter.
For years, Stella gets by on mild flirtations with other men, not understanding that her husband left her because she never developed the taste or style of a society woman. Stella likes a good time and believes that her outings without her husband are harmless. She dresses vulgarly by the standards of polite society and does not take an interest in the topics of discussion and reading that a woman of the right social standing should.
That Stella has ruined her own chance to lead a respectable life only occurs to her when she sees that her beautiful and pleasing daughter, Laurel, is in danger of losing her friends and the opportunity of an excellent marriage simply because of Stella’s reputation. Willing to do anything for her daughter’s success, Stella marries a man her daughter despises because of his crude behavior and drinking. In so doing, Stella is able to drive away her loyal daughter, who then seeks the shelter and approval of her now remarried father. Laurel’s stepmother, a woman of proper reputation, promises to provide Laurel with all of the advantages that a distinguished place in society can convey.
Impact
Commonly known as a “tearjerker,” the story of Stella Dallas was made into three successful motion pictures in 1925, 1937, and 1990, as well running as a popular radio serial from 1937 to 1955. The story of this seemingly crude woman who has the nobility to sacrifice her own happiness for her daughter was irresistible because it struck at the hopes and fears of a generation of women keenly concerned with doing the socially acceptable thing while also exercising the new freedoms afforded them in the 1920s.
Bibliography
Chandler, Karen M. “Agency and Stella Dallas: Audience, Melodramatic Directives, and Social Determinism in 1920s America.” Arizona Quarterly 51, no. 4 (1995): 27–44.
Parchesky, Jennifer. “Adapting Stella Dallas: Class Boundaries, Consumerism, and Hierarchies of Taste.” Legacy 23, no. 2 (2006): 178–198.
Thornton, Edie. “Fashion, Visibility, and Class Mobility in Stella Dallas.” American Literary History 11, no. 3 (Fall, 1999): 426–447.