“I don’t think any word can explain a man’s life. No, I guess Rosebud is just a piece in a jigsaw puzzle—a missing piece.” 

Thompson

Citizen Kane is not the traditional narrative driven story. In fact, it is barely a story of itself. It is a collection of stories, testimonies, from various people who knew Kane: 5 series of vignettes. Although we never meet Kane himself, the various accounts of him are shown on screen as vivid memories give us a glimpse as to who Mr. Kane was. 

The way Citizen Kane is structured is like doing a jigsaw puzzle rather than telling a story. Instead of us passively sitting back, and watching Kane’s life depicted before us as it was, we get everything in little pieces. There is no chronology; flashbacks are told out of chronological order, and Kane dies right before he is shown as a little kid. Kane is presented as series of vignettes with different plots through the journey of journalist Thompson, which results in a painted overall picture of Kane, his characteristics, and values. Welles wants to convey WHO Kane is, rather than what he did in his life. We are put into a journalist standpoint, the responsibility of putting together the picture of kane by ourselves. It is through this understanding of Kane’s character that makes the ending of Citizen Kane all the more impactful. 

While there were many thematic elements and motifs that stood out to me in the film, I want to focus on how the theme of love is tied into the movie because of how cleverly put together I found it. 

We see jigsaw puzzles throughout the film: What Susan does to pass time at the lonely Xanadu, what the journalists pick up when they decide to give up on the mystery. Susan’s puzzle represents her attitude towards Kane, putting together the pieces but ultimately gives up because of missing pieces, his inability to love. The journalists pick up the jigsaw seeing that it was put into the box and not completed, representing their giving up on trying to find meaning in rosebud. Welles gives us the audience the liberty to see something the journalists never find out, he gives us the final piece. It isn’t until the meaning of “Rosebud” is revealed, that we get the final piece of Kane’s puzzle. Final words of death are usually those of something undone, or something of yearning. For Kane, it was the yearning of the childhood love and happiness he felt before he was taken away from his mother symbolized through a dingy sled from his childhood named Rosebud. Before he was wealthy, life was simple and love was easy. He never again learned how to love someone back, only how to get people to love him. This inability is shown throughout all the vignettes. He only gives so people can love him, he thinks material goods can buy love, and turns towards material acquisitions. Rosebud also represents this inability, in addition to Kane’s yearning. In the beautifully woven long takes of the extensive amounts of statues collected in Xanadu, we see seemingly endless amounts of expensive material acquisitions. All of them are covered in linen, untouched. Even though he had acquired all of these new things, he still held onto his old dingy sled. It represents something priceless to him. These collectibles draw parallel to the various amount of people he “won over” with his power and wealth. These are the people who loved Mr. Kane, however he never got to the point of loving them back. Just like the people he failed to love back, he failed to used/love himself after acquiring them. And just like the love he got from other people, the only ones that really meant anything to him were those of his parents. Even with all the expensive statues, he still kept Rosebud. He still held on hope that one day he would be able to get back that childhood love again. 

Xanadu is Kane’s isolation, the magnificent halls and endless empty corridors. He shares the place with no one. It is powerfully through Xanadu and its contents where we begin to sympathize with Kane. It is his wealth that isolates him and holds him back from love. Expensive statues, and big castles mean nothing if not shared with love and people. He holds onto Rosebud, the only thing left that reminds him of the times when he did feel love. Although not understood by the public, since only the audience get the last piece of Welles’ jigsaw, the audience comes to understand that Kane is not just an evil man who doesn’t love and refuses to change but rather as a lonely man who wants to love but does not know how.  That is the missing piece the public will fail to see about him.