Yeah, I remember when the book first came out, a lot of people criticized the heroine for being "too passive" (and this was in the eighties!). Whereas in reality, most people aren't trained to resist (especially women) and it takes a lot of effort and will to actually start attacking your fellow humans, especially when you're disoriented and under extreme stress because they're taking your money and power and freedom. The scene in the book where she can't buy cigarettes because any bank account with "F" on it has been frozen is super chilling, but she just kind of gives up in annoyance figuring it's a glitch and goes back home, and it's obviously not clear to her at the time that's the very beginning of the purge until later.

A lot of dystopian fiction is the backdrop for the story of being an awesome heroic revolutionary, and can make it almost appealing to have things get that bad, or invite people to be really judgmental about all of the ordinary people who don't become revolutionary heroes

I loathe that later attitude, SO MUCH. And bringing back Solnit into it (because I love Solnit) a lot of the time the real helpful heroism isn't the one individual doing the Huge Dramatic Gesture, but a lot of 'little people' banding together to do one immense coordinated thing, like the Katrina rescues.