In the context of the story, American elites still remain incredibly wealthy, but the rest of the country is vastly impoverished. The main character is from a f

In the context of the story, American elites still remain incredibly wealthy, but the rest of the country is vastly impoverished. The main character is from a family that are among the last remnants of the “middle class.” She lives in a gated neighborhood, but one that relied on neighborhood-level self-protection and is ever more surrounded by the peril of homelessness and street violence. The wealthy live in full protected cities with private security and corporate sponsors. Essentially, the masses of poor are left to suffer the effects of the chaos around them, while the wealthy are safe and cloistered. This hardly seems wide of the mark with regard to contemporary America, let alone if things turn for the worse.