Citizen Kane Worksheet

1. In the movie Citizen Kane, there are so many important facts to remember such as, when Charles Kane was eight years old, his own mother signed custody of him over to a banker named, Walter Thatcher. Because his mother signed custody over, Kane did not have a normal childhood and he built up a sense of animosity towards Mr. Thatcher and as a result everything Charles did was an attempt to antagonize Mr. Thatcher. At a young age Charles Became extremely wealthy; when he was twenty-five years old he was set to inherit a fortune; none the less, he only wanted the struggling New York Daily Inquirer because he thought it would be fun to run a newspaper. Charles never truly cared for his wealth and in one scene said that the purpose of money is

Together, Emily and Charles had one child who dies in a tragic car accident. Kane’s alleged affair with “singer” Susan Alexander led to the divorce of Kane and Emily however, one could only speculate whether or not Kane truly loved Emily or even if Emily really loved Kane. After their divorce Kane married Susan Alexander; Susan was the closest Kane ever got to loving someone or being loved. Kane built a forty-nine thousand acre palisade in Florida called Xanadu for Susan after her attempted suicide. Xanadu was a pleasure ground that included a golf course, manmade mountains, and a zoo. Susan accuses Kane of trying to buy love which infuriates Kane to the point that he slaps. The slap leads to Susan walking out on their marriage. In a violent rage, Kane tears apart their bedroom; he halts the destruction when he sees the snow-globe. In his final living moment he uttered “Rosebud” while dropping a snow globe. The last scene of the movie is the most important because it ties everything together; this scene tells you want “Rosebud” was and what the snow globe

There are really no true resolutions for the conflicts Kane endured. Kane never got over his mother signing over custody of him to Mr. Thatcher. He carried the feeling of being unloved throughout his life and let it destroy all his personal relationships. With Mr. Thatcher, Kane enjoyed antagonizing every aspect of his life, he wanted to be everything Mr. Thatcher hated. With Kane’s wives, he found ways to destroy their relationships. One example of this is a scene very close to the end of the movie when Susan is walking out of their home on Xanadu, and Kane is begging her not to go and that things will change, then he shifts the argument back to being all about him and says “you can’t do this to