Significance and Metaphorical Meaning of the Glass Ball in ‘Citizen Kane’

In ‘Citizen Kane’ (1941) directed by Orson Welles, the story is set in motion to seek for the meaning of ‘Rosebud’. At the end, when Thompson is asked about ‘Rosebud’, he states that he didn’t find its meaning, and that “maybe ‘Rosebud’ was something [Kane] couldn’t get or something he lost … I guess ‘Rosebud’ is just a piece in a jigsaw puzzle”. Thompson’s failure in finding its meaning suggests a search for alternative meaning in the movie, rather than the meaning of ‘Rosebud’. In her article ‘Deconstructing ‘Citizen Kane’, Sarah Myers McGinty states that “Welles begins and ends the film with a close-up, shrouded in fog, of the ‘No Trespassing’ sign on Xanadu’s gate. … this sign tells us right off that we aren’t going to learn anything easily” (1987, 47). This implication is reinforced with the establishing shots in the next scenes. These establishing shots introduce the setting by attributing a sense of seclusion to Xanadu, showing it as out of reach. The framing of fog, fence and Xanadu’s reflection on the lake creates a sense of confinement in the setting. This confinement actually represents Kane’s hard-to-reach mind, and Thompson’s failure in the end ultimately consummates this implication of hardship. Even encountering five different versions of Kane, through five interviews, does not provide Thompson with the answer he has been looking for. He concludes his search by stating that he does not think “any word can explain a man’s life”. That is actually what happens when we are given the answer. We learn that ‘Rosebud’ is the name of his childhood sled and then the film ends with again the ‘No Trespassing’ sign. Therefore, although Thompson is directed mainly to the search for ‘Rosebud’, it is not enough totally to analyze Kane’s psychology, ‘trespass’ his mind. As John Gibbs remarks, “mise-en-scene is complicated but central to a developed understanding of film” (2012, 1). Therefore, an analysis on mise-en-scene contributes to our understanding of movies. I believe with a detailed analysis on the significance and metaphorical meaning of the glass ball, it becomes possible to find and analyze that piece of childhood psychology in ‘the jigsaw puzzle’. Because camera shoots the glass ball earlier to Kane’s mouth’s uttering ‘Rosebud’, it gives priority to the meaning of glass ball. In this paper I will analyze the significance and metaphorical meaning of the glass ball through a study on mise-en-scene with related three scenes in which the glass ball appears for three times in ‘Citizen Kane’.

In ‘Introduction to Film Studies’, Jill Nelmes states that props “may be used to drive the narrative forward, and, crucially, may also take on metaphoric significance depending on how attention is drawn to them through cinematography or dialogue” (2012, 89). When camera moves to Xanadu, to inside Kane’s room, we see an extreme close-up on the glass ball right before the extreme close-up on Kane’s mouth when he utters ‘Rosebud’. The use of extreme close-ups, as cinematographic choices, place emphasis on the importance of both the glass ball and the meaning of ‘Rosebud’. However, the metaphor of glass ball is more significant because it creates a relationship between Kane’s childhood memories and his relationship with Susan Alexander.

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The connection of his childhood memories is suggested in Mr. Thatcher's flashback regarding Kane. There is a pattern in terms of setting and performance. In both the glass ball and Kane’s childhood scenes, there is a cottage in snowing atmosphere. The cottage in glass ball stands for Kane’s real home, from where he is separated as a child in the flashbacks. In terms of performance, Richard Dyer states that “The signs of performance are: facial expression; voice; gestures […] body movement […]” (1998, 134). The child Kane moves his whole body, arms and legs together, trying to tell something with a loud noise. Similarly, the dying Kane’s mouth utters ‘Rosebud’, trying to give a message with a thick voice before he drops the glass ball. In both scenes, there is an indication of physical loneliness by performance. The child is left out in the cold; he is ignored and distanced from the parents. Likewise, the dying man is alone in his deathbed, accompanied by neither family nor friends.

On the other hand, Mr. Leland’s flashback of Kane’s first night at Susan’s apartment indicates the correlation between the glass ball, Kane’s childhood and his relationship with Susan Alexander. It is during this flashback that we learn Susan as the primary owner of the glass ball; it shows us the glass ball for the second time. We see it right in front of the mirror with Susan’s childhood pictures framed together. There is Susan’s reflection on the mirror, while Kane’s only half body is seen from behind, and her shirt is white. The white color has positive connotations such as purity, innocence, understanding, safety etc. When we consider the contribution of white color along with their performance, it attributes a childlike sense of innocence to Susan. She keeps laughing at Kane’s jokes and tries to guess whether Kane’s hand game shadows a giraffe or an elephant, which is actually reminiscent of a child game. Kane also laughs back at her; he feels safe and comfortable in presence of Susan. Thus costume, performance, properties, as choices of mise-en-scene create a sentimental atmosphere that belongs to the piece of childhood in ‘the jigsaw puzzle’.

From a psychoanalytical viewpoint, Susan’s reflection on the mirror together with the position of glass ball suggests a Lacanian reading. According to Lacanian psychoanalysis, the mother as ‘the Other’, “is the first object of desire” for the child (Denzin, 199). When the desire for the mother is not provided, it is only postponed. The emotional “separations from the mother create a lifelong unsatisfied desire for reunion” (199). Thereby, the frustrated child stays forever in need of that emotional satisfaction. In the case of Kane when he is separated from his parents, especially the mother, he becomes emotionally unsatisfied and disappointed. It is through his relationship with Susan that Kane feels safe, laughs and jokes like a child.

David Bordwell suggests that “all the elements are present for a symbolic transfer of Kane’s love to this new mother-figure” (1971, 43). In a Lacanian sense, Susan symbolically becomes the reflection of Kane’s ideal image of motherhood. Therefore, Susan’s reflection on the mirror means the embodiment of child Kane’s emotional satisfaction. Firstly, this meaning is supported with the position of glass ball as a bridge between Susan’s reflection and Kane. As discussed earlier, metaphorically the glass ball refers to Kane’s childhood, and the positioning of Kane’s childhood in between Susan’s reflection and Kane functions as a bridge. It physically and metaphorically creates the necessary bond between the two. Secondly, the meaning is supported with Kane’s reference to a “sentimental journey” that he was going to take. He was going to look for “[his] mother’s things in search of [his] youth” that night. Instead, he met Susan and stayed for the night at her apartment. Therefore, his encounter with Susan already provided him with that ‘sentimental journey’. Through meeting Susan, he found his ‘youth’, his childhood and metaphorically his mother’s ‘things’ in her apartment. Later the glass ball, as part of her ‘things’, becomes the most significant item for Kane as it is the last ‘thing’ that he holds on to in his deathbed.

The third and the last scene that we see the glass ball belongs to the butler, Raymond’s flashbacks. It is on the day that Susan leaves Kane. Upon Susan’s leaving him, Kane is frustrated again. Angrily, he turns Susan’s room upside down: breaks every object carelessly. Yet when he sees the glass ball, camera closes-up on his hand level. In terms of performance, the action is paused for five second, and we see his hand take the glass ball. He falters; he is physically calmer. But the whole anger is moved to a psychological level. He looks at the glass ball while his hand is both shaking and squeezing the object, and he utters ‘Rosebud’ once again. Then, camera moves to his face and we see tears in his eyes. Psychologically, he is in the same position of abandonment as the child Kane. In this shot, Kane is wearing a pendant of letter ‘K’ in backwards. The pendant functions as a symbol for the reverse side of Kane, powerless and broken down. Here, the glass ball causes Kane face his powerlessness. It symbolizes the loss of Susan herself but also loss of the symbolic meaning of Susan’s existence through the glass ball itself. When she is gone, also are the emotional satisfaction, the mother figure and the childhood love. There is again the frustration and disappointment, and “He just said: ‘Rosebud’”, says the butler. ‘Rosebud’ is the only verbal reaction that Kane shows; nothing else is heard from him.

To explain the significance of the object, Robert L. Carringer suggests, “The little glass ball (not ‘Rosebud’) is the film’s central symbol” (1966, 187). It is central because even when it is no longer visible, the glass ball continues to support the theme of multiple Kanes, the ‘central symbol’ of the film. The theme of multiple Kanes refers to the narrative structure of the film, which is the presentation of Kane through five interviews and five flashbacks. In the hall of mirrors, the glass ball is framed in Kane’s pocket, non-visible but still existing as a part of mise-en-scene. We are already presented with fragments of Kane throughout the film. And the absence of glass ball creates the infinite reflections on the mirrors and fulfills this notion of multiple Kanes. In this sense, the absence of glass ball is symbolically the absence of “the Other to arrive at what Kane experiences as his identity” (Bertens 2002, 161). According to Lacan’s mirror stage, “This ‘Other’ - ‘the locus from which the question of [Kane’s] existence may be presented to him’ - is not a concrete individual, although it may be embodied in one (father or mother, for instance)” (161). In other words, the glass ball’s metaphorical absence is the absence of Susan as ‘the Other’, the mother figure. Therefore, Kane’s identity is never fully constructed because of ‘the Other’ as a lacking figure from his childhood. Through losing Susan, Kane loses his ‘Other’ once more and we see his totally fragmented self as multiple reflections on the mirrors.

In conclusion, the glass ball plays a significant role as director’s choice of prop in ‘Citizen Kane’. An alternative search for the meaning, rather than of ‘Rosebud’, brings light on the metaphorical function of glass ball that represents Kane’s psychology. The emphasis is put on from the beginning till the end with the use of cinematography and dialogue. Through a study on mise-en-scene and a Lacanian analysis of the glass ball in related scenes, it becomes possible to explore its significance and metaphorical meaning that it takes on: Kane’s childhood memories and his relationship with Susan Alexander.

Works Cited

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2. Bordwell, David. ‘CITIZEN KANE’. Film Comment, vol. 7, no. 2, 1971, pp. 38–47. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/43752812
3. Carringer, Robert L. ‘Rosebud, Dead or Alive: Narrative and Symbolic Structure in ‘Citizen Kane’’. PMLA, vol. 91, no. 2, 1976, pp. 185–193. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/461506
4. Denzin, N.K. Studies in Symbolic Interaction. Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2008.
5. Dyers, Richard. STARS. New Edition by British Film Institute, 1998. Print.
6. Gibbs, J. Mise-En-Scène: Film Style and Interpretation. Columbia University Press, 2012. Print.
7. McGinty, Sarah Myers. ‘Deconstructing ‘Citizen Kane’'. The English Journal, vol. 76, no. 1, 1987, pp. 46–50. JSTOR.
8. Nelmes, J. Introduction to Film Studies. Taylor & Francis, 2012. Print.