Citizen Kane

Scott Yarmoff

Mrs. Robbins

Crit Film Period 3

9/28/14

Citizen Kane

The entire plot of the story revolves around the question, “What is the meaning of 'Rosebud'?” If “Rosebud” is the last thing he says before he dies, clearly it's been the most important part of his life. We find out that “Rosebud” is the name of his sled from his childhood. My question is, how did this come as much of a surprise to the audience? I understand that people may not have been able to guess that “Rosebud” was the name of his sled, but we should have been able to see that it represented something from his childhood.

The only true time that Kane is portrayed as happy is when he is a kid playing in the snow outside his home. From the time when Thatcher takes him away to his death, his only other happy time is when he was with Susan Alexander the first time they met. In the first scene where we see Kane die holding a snow globe, we should've been able to tell that the snow globe represents his childhood, which took place in the snow just a few scenes later.

From the time Kane is taken away until his death, the only thing he does is try to make himself happy. As his 25^th birthday approaches, he is going to be given power to many different companies but he says he only wants to own one of the small newspaper companies because he thinks it will be “fun.” He seems very unhappy with Thatcher and doesn't do what he is supposed to because he wants to be happy. He gets married to try to be happy. He tries looking for his mother's remains in a warehouse to “find his youth” and try to be happy. He instead spends the night with Susan Alexander and is happy.

 On his deathbed, he is trying to take himself back to his only true happy days: his childhood before he was taken away. That's why he is holding the snow globe. We, as an audience, should have been able to tell that the word he said and the object he held were connected, so we should have been able to see that “Rosebud” was symbolic of his childhood since he is just trying to “find his youth” and get back to a happier time throughout the film.