The novel is a political satire of the British political and society of Defoe's era. For example, each of the chariot's winged steeds represents one of the houses of the Parliament of England.
The chariot has also been described as one of the earliest spaceships (or airships) in known fiction.[2]: 69 [3] This, in addition to its portrayal of the Moon and the concept of space flight, resulted in the work being classified as one of the proto-SF works.[3][4]
