The events of the novel take place during an atomic war in the future, and the reason the boys end up on the island is because they are being evacuated from England to Australia for safety. Though they are just children, they too end up dividing into opposing camps and going to "war."
Golding himself was a member of England's Royal Navy during WWII and knew the kind of destruction the adult world could create. On his fictional island, he crafts a smaller stage for the same kind of ideological battle.
The ending of the novel is particularly ironic because the boys are found by a British naval officer who is disappointed by their savage and uncivilized behavior. As he looks at his "trim cruiser in the distance," the officer does not seem to make the connection that this small island world is merely mirroring the larger one.
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