Unreliable authority figures represent some of the false “differences” between children and adults. Tim shatters the boys’ expectations of him as an adult, doctor, and Scoutmaster when he’s unable to cure the stranger’s illness, instead contracting it himself and exposing the boys to it. Other adults such as the military, the boys’ parents, and other townspeople either don’t try to rescue them or are unable to do so. All of these failures make the boys feel that adults are not different from children in the ways the boys used to believe they were: Adults aren’t necessarily bigger, stronger, braver, smarter, or more moral, and they can’t or won’t always protect children from harm. Despite the lack of a physical, living adult presence throughout most of the novel, the boys on the island frequently recall the words and advice of adults (either through memories, hallucinations, or dreams). However, these words of advice don’t save anyone except for Max. This outcome further erodes the difference between children and adults.

Unreliable authority figures also enhance the novel’s terror because the characters gradually come to realize that they can’t rely on any of the established channels for help. Without their Scoutmaster, parents, the police, the military, or medical doctors on their side, the boys obviously struggle to prevail and also to maintain hope.