Handmaids Tale

I find this book very intriguing and very scary. This sort of dictatorship could easily form under the right circumstances if we let our guard down. Just to see how the government slowly evolves from a democracy to a theocratic dictatorship was very interesting. If this sort of thing happened, I can tell you the majority of people would go along with it. That's where this theocracy gains power. If the majority would fight against it, it would not be able to last. I still don't have a clear understanding of how this group was able to take over the government so easily. They suspend the constitution and take away womens rights to own property. At this point John Locke would say that we have the right to replace our government.
I really like how the book is structured. It takes you back and forth between the past and the present, and you slowly see the two merge until the two time periods meet. You get little bits and pieces of information about the collapse and you get to see parts of the same story pieced together throughout the book. At what point in this evolution of government would you say "this has gone too far." At first you would figure things would eventually go back to normal, but at what point would you try to do something about it. Before you know it, it would be too late. I feel that this book is showing an extreme outcome of what happens when people conform to a group. You start to sacrifice your own needs for the good of group, and do whats best for the group, as opposed to whats best for yourself. One thing leads to another, and eventually you end up with the republic of gilead. It all started when the army conformed to the ideas of a few individuals. Once the leader had control over the army, it was a little harder to stop them. Once the power is in the hands of the group, it takes an equally powerful group to stop them.