Guerrillas Summary
V. S. Naipaul

Guerrillas Summary

The status of Guerrillas as a major novel rests on its classification as a political novel. Unlike A House for Mr Biswas (1961), Guerrillas has a small cast of characters. Only three are of major importance: Peter Roche, a dispossessed white victim of South African oppression, who has emigrated to the nameless Caribbean island that is the novel's setting; Jimmy Ahmed, a half-Chinese, half-black "revolutionary" leader; and Jane, a Canadian who seems to be hoping for a personal definition through these two men.

For such a situation to express political concerns, the individual relations of the characters must be symbolic of a larger social relationship. In short, the personal relations should give an outline of a culture, as each character represents a part of the social world.

Such an action tends toward allegory, and an initial interpretation of Guerrillas might be that of a story...

(read more from the Short Guide)