 The tone of the story, especially towards its end, is delivered very simplistically, in an almost child-like fashion.  This is to show that the story
When nobody aboard ship remembers where it's going, how can they tell when it has arrived? But ever since the engines somewhere in the rear of the world had changed their tone, from the steady whining Rikud had heard all twenty-five years of his life, to the sullen roar that came to his ears now, the feelings had grown. Instead, there was more of the blackness, and one very bright star set apart by itself in the middle of the viewport. Rikud knew that something which he could not explain had entered the elder man's head for a moment, but it had departed almost before Chuls knew of its existence. But something soft had cushioned the impact—something which had come into being just for the moment and then abruptly passed into non-being again, something which was as impalpable as air. There had been a revolt—again a term without any real meaning, a term that could have no reality outside of the reading machine—and the elders were overthrown. The people had decided that they did not know where they were going, or why, and that it was unfair that the elders alone had this authority. They were born and they lived and they died as the elders directed, like little cogs in a great machine. Much of this Rikud could not understand, but he knew enough to realize that the reading machine had sided with the people against the elders, and it said the people had won. True, this was the only case of its kind, the exception to the rule, but it proved the world was not perfect. You can find several of them under 'astronomy,' with a cross-reference under 'stars.' "Variability," he told them, "is a contradictory term. Except that it was variable, which was like change, being tied up somehow with age. A section of it had expanded outward and assumed the rectangular shape of the viewport, and its size as well. It seemed neatly sheered down the middle, so that on one side Rikud saw an expanse of brown and green, and on the other, blue. The gardens, moreover, did not jump and dance before his eyes the way the viewport gardens did. For a whole week that view did not change, and Rikud had come to accept it as fact. He said, "Well, variable or not, our whole perspective has changed." Now if the world had walked from—somewhere, through the vast star-speckled darkness and to the great garden outside, this also was purposeful.
 is like a fable.  It offers a moral to the story and teaches a truth about society.
 is like a fable.  It offers a moral to the story and teaches a truth about society.  is like a fairy-tale because the characters go on a magical journey, but its main purpose as a story is to decieve.  is like a ghost story.  It frightens the reader by playing on the dark and supernatural.  is like mythology because it is folklore that explains society's origins.