A Bright Ending: A Junior Narrative Diptych by Francis Sullivan (2011)

My Narrative Diptych tells the story of the last man on earth. The final action he decides to undertake is to write the history of humanity on a typewriter. When he finishes typing the story, he finds peace in the death of his race and dies. Humans have always found solace in journalism and recording our thoughts. When he dies, nothing is left of humanity but the remnants of our presence in the form of our buildings, fences, and objects.

I used dirty conditions, splattering rain, and drab colors to portray the military atmosphere of the scene. The high contrast of the bright rain drops and white lights against the black night sky and dirty brown colors is used to give the scene intensity. I chose to replace his face with a skull to show how his identity has been lost and replaced with a permanently scowling mask. The “I am become death” writing on the soldier's helmet is a quote from J. Robert Oppenheimer, the main inventor behind the atomic bomb. It's a direct translation from a Hindu story. The quote is also used in a similar context in Stanley Kubrick's movie, Full Metal Jacket on a soldier who relishes in war.