No Glory: A Junior Narrative Diptych by Chelsea Whitmore (2012)

A boy is off to war. He kisses his crying mother goodbye, but secretly he is eager for a life of adventure. The posters revealed a life of glory and justice and excitement, an opportunity of a lifetime he couldn't miss. He holds his mother hands, gripping it tightly, but not out of anxiety. The poor soul, his mother; she seems to be so devastated. He closes his eyes and in the next moment he reappears on the battlefield. His vision is blurred with dust and tears. Breathing doesn't come easily and the uneven gasps of his friend beside him makes it hard to stop the bleeding. The dagger in the first picture is very ornate, representing the supposed glory of war and battle. It is on top of a clean, white towel, representing a blank slate, clean, an unscarred mind. The eraser in the second picture similarly represents naivety and innocence, surrounded by a bubble between itself and reality. The outside world is an enigma, unknown, which is why it's in Italian. The part exposed to the english, to the reality, is no longer untarnished; it is scarred, forever changed by what it's seen.