A significant literary influence on Guerrillas is Joseph Conrad, whose works like Nostromo (1904), The Secret Agent (1907), and Under Western Eyes (1911) depict revolutionary lands and cultures. Conrad, much like Naipaul, was deeply affected by social injustice. However, he never portrayed political actions, especially radical ones, in a positive light. To Conrad, such actions were always tainted by selfishness and frailty. Similarly, Naipaul condemns exploitation, such as the island's exploitation by an American corporation, yet he portrays Jimmy as even more contemptible than the corporation. While Naipaul is relentless in criticizing social injustices, he does not appear to see revolutionary movements as the solution.

Like all of Naipaul's works, Guerrillas explores individuals and societies in turmoil. The novel marks progress in two main areas: depicting lives influenced by political and economic factors and employing a narrative technique of symbolic compression. Naipaul's social insight is more focused in Guerrillas compared to his previous books, and the compression arises from a deliberate shift in narrative style. The traditional model of the nineteenth-century social novel, characterized by numerous characters and detailed realism, is replaced with a storyline as condensed as a Nathaniel Hawthorne romance. It seems Naipaul has uncovered deeper reasons behind the unsettled lives and societies depicted in his earlier works.