Varmints

Summary

A rabbit-like animal (Varmint) hangs around in a savanna full of grass until an army of bigger rabbit-like animals suddenly appear. As the animals place buildings all over the savanna, the grass and the trees start to wither but the varmint manages to safely get ahold of a tree branch. The atmosphere becomes dark and cloudy and a whole city appears in front of the Varmint. The varmint starts living in the city but he misses the savanna, so he starts writing a journal about how there was once a savanna. Every day the air gets polluted to the point where the animals suffer to walk on the streets. One day, the Varmint meets another varmint and decides to gift her a plant from the branch he kept and watered. A few days later,  a horde of giant jellyfish appear and starts taking away the animals in the city. The Varmint sees animals reuniting inside the jellyfish and becomes desperate to reach it. He looks for the other varmint but fails to do so and collapses on the roof of a building. Fortunately, a jellyfish grabs him and takes him to safety. He wakes up inside the jellyfish and reunites with the other Varmint. Inside the jellyfish was a mini savanna and the story ends with the city snowing with dandelion puff that the jellyfish released. 

Opinion

I thought this story was interesting from the point of view that the understanding of the story will differ depending on who watches it. I think the animals that destroyed the savanna and built the polluted city represent humans and the Varmints are the animals in real life. The irony in this story is that the animals in the city suffer from the pollution that they are responsible for. In this way, one of the messages by the creator of the story is that all actions have consequences. One mystery of this story is the identity of the jellyfish. In the story, what they are and their purpose is not much revealed. I speculate that the jellyfish are a creature in that world that brings balance to nature and appears when an environment is heavily polluted. I think the jellyfish represent hope in our world and that if we reduce pollution, there is still a chance of bringing back a clean environment with plenty of nature. As we live in a modern world with advanced technology and urban cities, I think it is important to be friendly to the environment. "Varmints" teaches us how a corrupted environment can still have hope and it is not too late to bring back the nature we have lost around the world.