original_query: What is Dorothy's background and how does she live a wealthy lifestyle despite it?
query: What is Dorothy's background and how does she live a wealthy lifestyle despite it, in Trey Ellis's novel Platitudes?
answer: In Trey Ellis's novel, Dorothy lives in Harlem but attends a private school in a predominantly white area of Manhattan.  She successfully navigates both her black identity and a wealthy white social circle, embodying the 'cultural mulatto' concept.