In “Perspectives on Citizen Kane, “ Noel Carroll outlines the two competing explanations of the movie: the Rosebud hypothesis and the enigma theory. The Rosebud hypothesis is centered on Citizen Kane’s loss of his childhood, represented by the confiscated sled, Rosebud. The result of this damaged childhood is most evident in Kane’s inability to form loving relationships. As a matter of fact, Kane only seems to love his “statues, who don’t talk back…and animals he can control” (259). Conversely, the enigma theory centers on Kane being “a mass of contradictions,” where the pieces of his life do not fit cohesively together (257). Furthermore, Kane is all things to all people and his “identity (is) relative to whom he is telling the story”
