V.S. Naipaul’s Guerillas and Conspiracy Theory

Abstract

V.S. Naipaul’s Guerillas is an exceptional form of writing, where a quintessential form of intertextuality drags the novel into a possible conspiracy theory. What is seen on the surface is not exactly what the novel extrinsically brings forward. On the surface, there is a spooky relationship where an ostracized so-called leader, Jimmy Ahmed, pushes himself into the core of a struggle. Representing the notorious power relation between occident and the orient, the scuffle between these two different poles or characters creates a mysterious outcome, which in turn becomes part of a meticulous plan that redeems the vengeance of the decolonized, or Ahmed himself. Ahmed’s evil strategy starts as a personal dilemma, but arrives at a very distant point where the initial intention becomes blurred. Therefore, this article intends to decrypt the aforementioned conspiracy theory by applying an analysis through intertextuality to see what is beyond the struggles of multiculturalism. Sometimes, such multiculturalism won’t end positively since each person will remain, at the core, what he is made of: either black or white, Muslim, Jewish or Christian, oppressor or oppressed.