SPECIAL TREATMENT

ROSA ALBINA

Virgilio S. Almario

© 2011

Adarna House

 

SPECIAL TREATMENT

By: Arisa B. Sobue

Arisa B. Sobue is a BS Psychology student of Miriam College.

Virgilio S. Almario is the National Artist for Literature. He is also a foremost poet and critic in Filipino aside from being an outstanding translator, editor, teacher, and cultural manager. His recent work, Rosa Albina, is another child-friendly book that teaches the readers a moral lesson which is necessary in our everyday lives.

Rosa Albina is a book with two languages (English and Filipino). It is about “Rosa Albina”, a beautiful but arrogant carabao, who thinks that she’s better than the rest. She has no friends and never mingled with the other carabaos because she is saying that she doesn’t like dark-skinned carabao. She always sees herself as highly but there’s an accident that made her change.

            Rosa Albina, the main character, symbolizes people who cannot admit their own weaknesses. There is another character who is named as Mang Teban, the owner of Rosa Albina. He symbolizes those people who are supportive and spoiler to those people who are like Rosa Albina. And the last important character in the story is Karbon Kareta, the love interest of Rosa Albina. He symbolizes those people who are persevering and never give up. I also see the author’s symbolism in terms of racial discrimination. In Rosa Albina’s case, she didn’t like dark skinned carabaos and see them as a low class creature. The author is really good in using symbolism and this can help children a lot in learning the value of humility.

The title of the book “Rosa Albina” is not a catchy title. It is very obvious that the title is named after its main character and the readers will not be able to activate their schemas if this is the case. The author should have used something that will make the readers think why he used such title. But in the other hand, this title is also relevant as a whole because the main character is a female albino and it can help the readers who know what albinos are to determine that Rosa is an albino by merely reading the title. The texts are readable because they are located in the white portion of the page. The story has rhyming words in the end of each line and seems like a poem. The illustrations used are good and colorful but it can be improved by using simpler and brighter colors. The author used animal characters in the story such as carabaos. In my opinion, this is a good example of a fable and the children will surely be attracted to it. The moral lesson in the story is simple but usually forgotten by many. This book will help a lot in teaching and remembering the real value of humility.

It is also a good idea that the book has a board game portion but it is better if they include a dice with it since the readers, who generally are children, might get disappointed when they can’t play the board game in an instance. The book has a part with facts about albinos. It is very good that the author explained what the albinos are since the readers might not be knowledgeable about it but in my opinion, it should not be in the book in the first place because the author hasn’t mentioned something about albinos in the story. He just portrayed the albinism in the character of Rosa Albina through Rosa’s color but nothing more.

            Overall, the author wanted us to be humble enough in our own simple ways. He used the story to indirectly teach us how important the value of humility is. He used Rosa Albina to show that there is no good in being arrogant, instead it will just bring you harm. I would like to recommend this book to children especially to those who are 9 years old and above. In our modern era, the value of humility is slowly deteriorating. This value should be inculcated in children and this is the best way of starting it.

http://www.panitikan.com.ph/nationalartists/vsalmario.htm

http://anakbooks.ca/2012/01/12/rosa-albina/