21st Century Literature

1. ISANG PUMPON NG ROSAS
ALICE TAN GONZALES

2. ALICE TAN GONZALES
 She has produced critically-acclaimed
masterpieces evidencing her passion for
both Philippine and Hiligaynon literature.
She has received numerous writing grants
from the Cultural Center of the Philippines
and is an authority on West Visayan folk
literature, particularly the
Hiligaynon komposo or ballad. She
graduated from the University of St. La
Salle-Bacolod with a bachelor’s degree
in English.

3.  She earned her Master’s degree in Literature
from the Ateneo de Manila University, and her
Ph.D. in English Studies major in Creative
Writing from the University of the Philippines
in Diliman. She presently serves as a faculty
member at the University of the Philippines
Iloilo campus where she inspires and guides her
students in the fields of Literature and
Communication. Born and bred in Bacolod,
she became a resident of Iloilo City after
marrying her husband who is a native of Passi.

4. Characters
 Gemma – the protagonist in the story, who just
want to find her true love.
 Claire – gemma’s gay friend, who is always there
to support gemma with her problems.
 Mamang
 Papang
 Larry – gemma’s present boyfriend.
 Ronald – gemma’s first boyfriend
 Toto Andoy

5. Setting
 it is 8:00 in the evening when Gemma and Claire
went to the new restaurant called “Best of
Friend” just to celebrate Gemma’s Birthday.
 Gemma went home at 11:00 in the evening

6. Plot Summary
 It is Gemma’s Birthday that day but then she
doesn’t have anyone to celebrate it with, first her
boyfriend doesn’t remember her birthday he
even went to Antique just to attend an opening
of a clinic. Her family seems not to care about
her specially her father because he often thinks
about her daughters love life, the only person
left is her friend Claire .

7.  After calling her they both went to a restaurant
called “ Best of Friends” and they talk about the
things that make them depressed but most of
the time they talked about the problems of
Gemma when it comes to her past and present
relationship. And she was surprised when Claire
announced that she is a lesbian and also had a
past relationship with a girl but a car accident
happened that killed her girlfriend.

8.  The time passed by fast and they went home on 11:00
in the evening, Gemma requested Claire for her to
stay in her house for a moment and drink the
champagne that she had in her but Claire refuse to
do so, after talking for a bit Claire decided to go
home and she did and left Gemma confused with
her feelings about her friend. After a couple of
minutes thinking about her emotion she decided to
run after her friend but a sad thing happened and
she found herself lying down on the road gasping
for air but then darkness came over her.

9. Climax
- As they talked about
Gemma’s past relationship,
Claire also confessed about
sexuality and having an ex-
girlfriend who sadly died from a
car accident leaving Claire
alone.
Rising Action
- Gemma called Claire and
they both decided to go to a
new restaurant called "Best of
Friends", they went there and
Gemma started to talked about
her problems in life specially
her past relationship with
different men.
Exposition
- That day is Gemma's birthday
but she doesn't seem to have to
celebrate it with her boyfriends
priopity is not her, she is also not
in good terms with her family,
and the only friend she has is
her officemates but all of them
have their own schedules except
for Claire.
Falling Action
- Gemma was shock about what
she heard from her friend but then
she was jealous about her friend
story which is about finding her
true love which basically never
happened to her . They talked
more until 11:00 pm came and
they decided to go home, Claire
took Gemma home and taked for
a bit.
Resolution
- A minute after Claire decided to go
home, Gemma was left confused about
her feeling about her friend but then she
made her decision and go after friend but
as she run through the road a light flash
in her eyes and after that she found
herself lying on the floor until the
darkness came over her.

10. Conflict
 Gemma was having a problem about deciding
wether she would still continue her relationship
with her boyfriend Larry or just break up with
him and find another man who is more suitable
and more caring that him.

11. Theme
 This story tells us about a person who is having
an adequate love, a person who does not seem to
have a very happy and carefree relationship with
a man. This story shows us how others deal with
different types of problem specially when a
person who is very close to you died or leaves
you behind.

12. Symbolism
 The story uses Roses as its symbol, when a
person gives you a flower it typically means
that that person love you, congratulating you
for something that you have achieved, that
person likes to give roses as a gift, but in the
story the Roses were symbolizing that as long
as you love that person you should give her
roses specially if there is something to
celebrate but if you stop sending or giving it to
her it basically means that the person you are
having the relationship with is bored now and
want to break up with you.

13. Plot Device
 Flashback
- There are many parts in the story where they did
their own flashbacks regarding their past
relationship, memories with their dead loved
ones and some tragic happening in their past.

14. Point of View
 The story uses the first person point of view type
where the main character is the one who is
narrating which is Gemma.

15. Members
Sarah Flordeliz
Ella Paguio
Michaella Rodriguez
Erol Factoran
Vince Valenzuela