Why the author choose boys as the character of Lord of the Flies?

Answer 1

I think that he chose boys for a number of different reason, which might include... Golding deliberately chose the names of Ralph and Jack, which were also the names of two of the main characters in the book "Coral Island." They were also boys and by using characters with the same names in a similar situation Golding was inviting comparisons. At the time people were used to schoolboys behaving in a certain way, as they had done in the Billy Bunter series and similar books so Golding lent shock value to his novel by having schoolboys acting in a way which people of the time found unsettling, violent and unexpected. Adults also tend to be set in their ways whereas Golding, by using boys, allowed his character's to have unformed characters which could then develop over the course of the novel. The young are more amenable to change but they are also susceptible to fears of the unknown and wildly uninformed ideas. Adults would have establish a routine, allocated tasks and done things in a 'sensible' manner. Adults would not have fallen prey to the self induced fear of an imagined beast and without that element the novel would have lost much of its impact.

Answer 2

The author, William Golding, chose boys as the characters in "Lord of the Flies" to explore the themes of innocence, savagery, and power dynamics. By portraying young boys in a deserted island setting, Golding delves into the inherent impulses and struggles within human nature, accentuating the boys' transition from order to chaos as they battle for survival. This choice also highlights the fragility of societal structures and the potential for darkness in all individuals.