Allegory in Science Fiction
Sci-fi works may be set in fantastic locations far away from where we mere mortals live, but that doesn't mean that they have nothing to do with us. That's because even when sci-fi writers write about distant worlds, they're really often writing about our own world.
Sci-fi tends to be allegorical: the best sci-fi works often have a hidden meaning, because they work as a commentary on our own world and our own social and political systems. These sci-fi writers are a pretty sneaky bunch. They transport us to distant worlds only to get us thinking about the way that we live in this world.
Chew On This
Isaac Asimov's Foundation may be set on a distant planet, but the world that it depicts is an allegory for the Roman Empire. Check out how Trantor, the capital of the Galactic Empire, is modeled on ancient Rome here
In George Orwell's 1984, Big Brother is always watching us. And though he may be just a fictional character in the novel, Orwell uses his image to allegorize the oppression of totalitarian regimes in our own time and place. Have a look at these quotations depicting Big Brother's creepy presence