Citizen Kane: Symbolism Through Items

At the end of the movie it’s revealed that rosebud is in fact a sled which seems to just be a meaningless artifact from his childhood. However it is actually a nostalgic item for him, from at time when he was truly happy, before he had to leave his home and family. It can be assumed that he was remembering such times when he whispered the word on his deathbed, and dropped the snow globe. The snow globe is an item he picked up after his second wife Susan left him, according to his butler. He also supposedly said rosebud then too. In this way the snow globe became another rosebud-esque item, an allusion to a happier time when he was married. Although he didn’t have the physical sled with him, he carried both items, and memories to the end, when he had nothing left from the ruin of his life. All the items in his mansion at the end, ranging from priceless to worthless, was all he had left in the end. It’s an allusion of grandeur that meant nothing. All of those items could not compare to the significance of the sled, which was destroyed along with everything else at the end. After Kane was gone it meant nothing, as delicately pointed out by reporter in the final scene.