Character Analysis: Amber Waves Of Green

Ronson:

The three issues about status raised by Ronson, or his interviewees, revolve around class, money, and making it in America. Ronson, a man who makes $5,000 a week, and author of Amber Waves of Green, contends that "the gap between the richest and the poorest among us is now wider than it has been since .... the great depression." To prove his point, Ronson presents the secret financial life of six different people on the economic ladder-- from Frantz who washes dishes and earns $200 a week, to B. Wayne Hughes, a self-storage billionaire, and four other people in between, including Ronson himself.

As a black worker, Frantz could never aspire to be a server to earn more money, he never saw a black server. However, he could earn more if he gets promoted to busboy. But even that promotion was denied him. According to Ronson, Frantz talks a lot about respect and its opposite-- humiliation. Ronson says, "It's as if he's lowered his ambitions to the level that he can take all sorts of awfulness as long as people talk to him with a little respect." One night one of Frantz' co-workers threw away his shoes. Only the sous-chef gives Frantz some attention; only the sous-chef talks to him with respect.

Wayne Hughes. He agrees to the interview because income disparity is a hugely important topic for him. He started in life with nothing and ends up among the nation's top one percent. He laments that he lives his life paying taxes and taking care of his responsibilities, and is surprised to find out that "I'm an enemy of the state at this time in my