Symbolism In Citizen Kane

For citizen Kane, the most important assets of his life are not the political ambitions, successful newspaper business, nor his relationships with the significant others. Judging by his last word, “Rosebud,” the most important piece of his life is memory from his childhood. Although his life is changed for what appears to be better, from a materialistic viewpoint, it actually leaves him vulnerable and alone. Kane’s life is ultimately destructed by his lust to fulfill the American dream of fame, power and wealth. The inevitable struggle of Kane is reflective of the struggle of many must confront in this materialistic world, as one on his or her quest to find the true meaning of

At the end the film we are visually told a strong message that a man isn’t necessarily the sum of his achievements, possessions, or actions, but that something deeper must drive him. Kane was more than his public accomplishments is the last word Kane uttered: “Rosebud.” Kane’s life story unfolds in layers through the reporter Thompson's investigation and is told by a succession of people who were close to him. Kane never gets to tell his own life story, and we must wonder how much his telling of it would differ from the reminiscences of his associates. None of these people ever really knew what drove Kane to do the things he did. Only Thatcher would have had the chance to fully understand Kane, but he was too concerned with making money to have any compassion for a lonely child. He viewed Kane through a distant, mature lens of acquisition and conservatism. The differing perspectives on Kane’s life, especially in the absence of Kane’s own point of view, force us to question what was truly important in the life of Charles Foster Kane as well as to ponder what constitutes a life in general. Judging by Kane's last word, the most important pieces of his life were not the things that made him newsworthy, such as his newspaper successes and political ambitions, nor his friendships and associations. Instead, as Kane's life comes to an end, he grasps at a memory from his

Charles Kane, a newspaper mogul, died at his home in Xanadu. His last dying words were ‘Rosebud’ which no one had any idea what they meant. A newspaper reporter is given the task to investigate what the word meant. He had to interview many people including Kane’s friends like Jedediah Leland and his concubine Susan Alexander who only shed some light on the mystery of Kane’s life but no information about the Rosebud word. Citizen Kane is the movie that has received lot applause for centuries despite flopping at the box office in 1941. The narrative structure line non-linear form, the mise-en-scene composition, and the cinematography put the film in high regard.

I believe that the author portrays Charles Kane as sort of an evil man through the things he does, but shows that Kane doesn’t realize how he is behaving is wrong. One example of this would be how he ran his newspaper company the New York Inquirer (Citizen Kane). He presented the news in the best way possible to get as many people as he could to read it. Even if he had to lie a little bit in the title or in the actual stories, all he cared about was being everyone’s main source of news. This however was the opposite of what he originally wanted to do which was to present only honest and true news. One time he lied about the news was in relation to his second wife Susan Alexander. She was not a very skilled opera singer as told by the

Orson Welles’ 1941 classic, Citizen Kane, tells the story of a man named Charles Foster Kane. The turning point of the film is where Jim Gettys attempts to blackmail Kane. The scene demonstrates Kane’s fall from grace through pride in his reactions to Mrs. Kane, Susan Alexander, and Jim Gettys. The angles used in this scene shows the shift over Kane’s “power” over the public and in his personal life. Finally, the lighting of this scene

What defines a “good” or “bad” person? The answer is complicated because we all have different perspectives on what we believe to be right and wrong. We as individuals have our own set of ethics by which we try to use when making decisions. However, when a person encounters a difficult dilemma, that choice can impact and even alter a person’s life. “Good People” by David Foster Wallace is an informative and insightful story of a young, unwed, Christian couple that are facing the conflicts of an unplanned pregnancy. Although outwardly this story seems to focus on “to abort” or “not to abort,” the underlying theme focuses on the internal conflicts the young man faces when weighing out the consequences of a decision. David Foster Wallace uses symbolism and an omniscient third person point of view in “Good People” to illustrate the internal battle one faces when dealing with the moral and religious dilemmas such as an unplanned pregnancy.

The film, Children of Men directed by Alfonso Cuarón, holds a mirror up to our faces and makes us look. Humans kill, torture, and destroy. Yet we create, give, and love. This motion picture explores the themes of hope, faith and redemption with astounding technical and artistic prowess that puts the audience into the thick of it. It is infused with authentic acting, celestial music, intense visual effects and rich symbolic script writing Children of Men is much more than a dystopian fantasy flick. It is an innovative masterpiece!

What finally breaks down Charles Foster Kane is having Susan leave him. His need for control, and the inability for Susan or others to continue to comply with that need, send him into a frenzy in which he destroys the room Susan was staying in during their huge vacation in the Florida Everglades. From the room he takes a snow globe, and he is heard saying the words “rose bud” the first time by someone else. He walks into a hallway that has many mirrors, and this symbolizes Citizen Kane as a whole. This scene reflects the fragmented nature of the film. The life of Charles Foster Kane is told through the perspectives of several other people, and, due to this, as no person can be entirely unbiased, truthful, or even knowledgeable of the facts when recalling interactions with another person, we never get a complete picture of who Kane really is. Dozens of figures of Kane can be seen through the mirror, and this relates to how there are many images of Kane that can be derived from listening to the recollections of those who were close to him.

War can be very traumatizing and can have extreme last longing effects on the people who are involved in it, one of those effects can be post-traumatic stress disorder. Soldiers suffering from Post-traumatic stress disorder have to live everyday with problems that most people do not have to deal with, much like various symptoms that include change in mood, behavior and mental state. The unbearing pain experienced within PTSD can lead the person to distance themselves away from close friends and family members. Being alone can have an even greater negative effect on the mind and even the body. Much like the experiences Billy Pilgrim, a victim of PTSD, went through because of the war. Isolation is also a major theme in Slaughterhouse Five.

But all he wants is to be happy and he wants this so bad, that he manipulates the people in his life and end up pushing them away. His relationship with his first wife is a prime example, at first Kane and his first wife couldn’t have seen more happy, the typical American marriage. He even tells his wife he’ll call the inquiry to tell them he can’t come in until the afternoon just to spend more time with her. But as time goes on he becomes obsessed with the newspaper business, and spends most of his time at the inquiry. To me the power and wealth he gained temporarily filled the hole in his heart and that’s why he became obsessed with it because it brought him happiness. But when this wasn’t enough for him anymore, he manipulated people, almost forcing them to love and adore him. This causes him to push away all his friends, and workers at the inquiry. His

The Great Gatsby and Citizen Kane are both stories in which the main character wants to get back to times before where they presently are. In both stories they have an object that symbolizes a time and person they wish to be. For Gatsby it is the green light and for Kane it is Rosebud. What I want to explore is what happens when theses symbols are no longer symbols, but memories.

While he was throwing things down, he saw a snow globe that caught his attention. He took it up and whispered the words the journalist has been searching for “rosebuds” with tears in his eyes. As Kane walks out of the room he just trashed, he walk passed a number of mirrors. This shot symbolizes a reflection of Kane’s life. This is the only time Kane reflected on himself literally. You could see that there was a change in character for Kane. To me, finding that snow globe reminded him of his childhood, when he was happy and loved before he became hungry for money and power. At that moment, Kane realized that eventually everyone leaves him and he will forever remain lonely. At the beginning of the movie, when Kane died and the snow globe fell from his hand and broke; you could see the nurse entering the room to find him all alone. That is parallel to Kane finding the snow globe for the first time and walking past the mirrors. Another scene that is parallel to this is when young Kane was playing in the snow before the banker came to take him away. That reminded him of the only time he was ever really happy. He didn’t have much, as his parents were poor but he had happiness. Now he is rich, but his money cannot buy him

Citizen Kane begins the movie with an interesting opening of a man dying while saying his last words. This began the mystery of who was this man and what did he mean by his last words “rosebud”. In the next scene it jumps to a news article

When his second wife leaves him Kane realizes the corruption wealth has done on his life and says “rosebud” because he wants to return to his sled, his childhood, to return to the beginning when wealth has yet to corrupt him. Citizen Kane is the story of a man’s great ideas to make the world better, but unable to because of the corruption wealth brought him.

Citizen Kane is the story of the newspaper tycoon, Charles Foster Kane, and the meaning of his last words before he died. A group of news reporters are determined to figure out what Kane