The Internet Synchromystic Continuum is at work, as this week I’ve been focused on Citizen Kane and Rosebud, and it occurred to me that The Great Gatsby is yet another tale of a man driven by loss of a critical part of his past. Since this month is when we celebrate Founding Father Patrick Henry’s birthday, I mistakenly type “Citizen Kane Patrick Henry” into the YouTube Search box and found a recording of Orson Welles reading the “Give Me Liberty Or Give Death Speech”.
The Internet has spoken, and all of this means we have another fascinating Sunday Nights Radio on for tonight, with NEW music that also fits this theme that fell right into my lap.
Founding Father Patrick Henry
https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/patrick-henry
A staunch Anti-Federalist, he turned down George Washington’s offer to become Secretary of State because of the President’s strong Federalist leanings. Henry eventually reversed his position and supported American efforts to develop a strong central government. Due to ill health, Henry turned down an appointment by President John Adams to become special envoy to France in 1798.
Born May 29, 1736, in Hanover County, Virginia, to a Scottish immigrant father and a mother from a notable Virginia family.
Initially unsuccessful in business, Henry became a self-taught lawyer by 1760, gaining recognition for his courtroom eloquence.
Entered Virginia politics in 1764, elected to the House of Burgesses.
Became famous for his fiery opposition to British taxation, notably authoring the Virginia Stamp Act Resolutions in 1765.
Delivered his iconic “Give me liberty or give me death!” speech on March 23, 1775, urging armed resistance against British rule.
Served as the first and sixth governor of Virginia during the Revolutionary War.
After the war, he was a leading Anti-Federalist voice opposing the ratification of the U.S. Constitution, fearing too strong a central government.
Declined George Washington’s offer to be Secretary of State due to political differences.
Died June 6, 1799, at his Virginia plantation, Red Hill.
Married twice and fathered 17 children, several of whom died young.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| May 29, 1736 | Born in Hanover County, Virginia |
| 1754 | Married Sarah Shelton; moved to Pine Slash farm |
| 1760 | Passed the bar exam and began practicing law |
| 1763 | Gained fame in the Parson’s Cause trial, arguing against royal interference in taxation |
| 1764 | Elected to Virginia House of Burgesses |
| 1765 | Authored Virginia Stamp Act Resolutions opposing British taxation |
| March 23, 1775 | Delivered “Give me liberty or give me death!” speech at Virginia Convention |
| 1774 | Elected to First Continental Congress |
| 1776 | Elected first governor of Virginia |
| 1780s | Opposed ratification of the U.S. Constitution as an Anti-Federalist |
| 1798 | Declined appointment as special envoy to France |
| June 6, 1799 | Died at Red Hill plantation |
Contributions
: Henry authored the Virginia Stamp Act Resolutions, which asserted that only the colonial assemblies had the right to tax Virginians, not the British Parliament. These resolutions were radical for their time and helped galvanize opposition throughout the colonies, establishing Henry as a leading revolutionary voice1236.
: In 1773, Henry helped establish Virginia’s Committee of Correspondence, which facilitated communication and coordination among the colonies, laying groundwork for unified colonial resistance25.
: Henry was elected as a delegate representing Virginia. He helped draft the Petition to the King and the Continental Association, which organized colonial boycotts of British goods157.
: At the Second Virginia Convention, Henry delivered his most famous speech urging Virginians to prepare for armed resistance against British oppression. This speech dramatically shifted opinion toward readiness for war and is considered a defining moment in the revolutionary movement1346.
: Briefly led the Virginia militia to prepare for conflict, demonstrating his commitment to active resistance beyond rhetoric6.
: Henry helped draft Virginia’s new constitution and its Declaration of Rights, which influenced the later U.S. Bill of Rights, embedding principles of individual liberties and state sovereignty278.
: As the first governor of independent Virginia (1776-1779, and again 1784-1786), Henry guided the state through the Revolutionary War, helping to organize its defense and governance during a critical period147.
: After the war, Henry opposed the ratification of the U.S. Constitution, fearing that a strong central government would threaten the rights won during the Revolution. He was a vocal advocate for states’ rights and the inclusion of a Bill of Rights127.
Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death
Citizen Cane and Orson Welles
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/352256.Citizen_Kane
Welles is widely acknowledged as one of the most accomplished dramatic artists of the twentieth century, especially for his significant and influential early work—despite his notoriously contentious relationship with Hollywood. His distinctive directorial style featured layered, nonlinear narrative forms, innovative uses of lighting such as chiaroscuro, unique camera angles, sound techniques borrowed from radio, deep focus shots, and long takes.
Citizen Kane (1941), his first film with RKO, in which he starred in the role of Charles Foster Kane, is often considered the greatest film ever made.
f you are not familiar with the movie, it is well worth watching, you will note how “modern” it feels with the tempo of scenes, interesting use of camera angles and how the mood is set so effectively in black and white film. Several new techniques were required to pull off the opening sequence, and when you read the details of the different lenses, materials to either capture or reflect light, and coating of lights you can’t help but marvel at the ingenuity required to create and or enhance those techniques. Truly analog.
The movie opens with the camera zooming into a sign that reads “No Trespassing”, then the camera ignores that request and penetrates deeper into the estate, past abandoned golf course, across a river that seems more like a moat to scale the exterior of a monstrous estate, resting at a lighted window in the upper parapets. The light suddenly extinguishes, and next you are transported inside. A lone figure lays on a bed in the dark room, and while the sun begins to rise outside, snow fills the view, and then you find yourself looking into a snow globe.
“Rosebud,” are the first words of the film, uttered in a gasping whisper, and the snow globe is dropped by this mysterious figure, shattering on the floor. Momentarily a nurse enters, and as though performing last rights, arranges the arms of the man who is now deceased, having uttered his last word apparently to us.
This opening sequence is one of innumerable scenes that will make you recognize the techniques, camera angles and even mimicry of CItizen Kane. It’s a masterpiece of film making, storytelling, but offers insight into human behavior.
The plot proceeds with several time jumps as we get to know Charles Kane, a mega rich media mogul who has died in solitude in his gloomy estate name Xanadu. A reporter, who wants to solve the mystery of who or what “Rosebud” was, pieces together the story of Kane’s life, his rise to fame, and his escapades in media and politics. Kane is a fictional mixture of robber barons, namely Randolph Hurst.
Rosebud, it turns out, is a secret only known to Kane. We are given glimpses and hints at various stages as [x] attempts to unravel it’s meaning. The first is a scene of Kane’s youth, where as a young boy he was sleigh riding while his parents were signing a contract for rights to a mine. While living meagerly, they had just become fabulously wealthy due to newly discovered deposits under their home. While Charles enjoyed his snowy adventure, his parents gave custody of their son to their partner Thatchter, who agreed to raise Charles. Charles is desperate to remain with his parents, and in the struggle to resist raises his sled, Rosebud and uses it as a shield against Thatchter’s chest.
Kane grows into the ultimate entrepreneur, skilled at making business decisions, motivating and manipulating people into delivering what he desires. Yet a deep resentment for his circumstance remains, as he tells his mentor that he would rather be a man of consequence, and become everything that his mentor despises. Kane’s life of achievements, ranging from owning newspapers, influencing politics and marriages are hollow achievements for him. Something is missing. As he ages, he begins to collect statues and other curiosities from around the world, including many items from his home state. He adds a new wife to his collection, and she sits in their new estate Xanadu, a vast mansion with a fireplace so large that it could fit a small office. Kane stands before the roaring fire and barks at his wife as she toils over assembling large puzzles. The hearth is so large that he could stand within and still have head room. His wife Susan, bored despite the immense wealth Kane has accumulated, works on puzzle after puzzle as Kane struts robotically with a cigar. There are a series of dialogues before the fireplace shown in succession with a different puzzle in each scene, yet never do we see a complete puzzle. The missing pieces are a great analogy representing the paucity of joy they experience in their lives. The pieces also serve as a way to demonstrate the missing pieces to the mystery of who or what Rosebud is.
Citizen Kane is such a rich subject I risk digressing too far. But we learn at the end of the movie that Rosebud has remained a mystery to all who want to experience Kane via his relationships, his wealth, and the artifacts he surrounded himself with in his dark robber baron castle. In the very last scene, [x] exclaims that they will never know the secret to Rosebud, and that it doesn’t matter. He is surrounded by executors of the Kane estate, and they are in the middle of a warehouse whose crates and shrouded statues dwarf the warehouse where the Arc of Covenant is housed, secreted away from Indiana Jones. The executors commence the task of disposing of all the possession, all the artifacts, by shoving them into a large furnace eerie similar in size to the fireplace where Kane would stand brooding and barking at his wife.
The first item placed into the furnace was Kane’s sled and we see the flames hungrily consume the phrase “Rosebud”.
The audience knows what Rosebud is, it represents the time of innocence that Kane held so dear, a time before his own abilities were overtaken by avarice, a time when he didn’t need a dark mausoleum like home to distinguish himself from others. Rosebud, the snow – those were the key strengths and comfort that he thought of before passing from this world.
Rosebud was his inner secret, perhaps a time whose value he could never recapture which made his attempts to fill the void with wealth and riches that never yielded the same feelings of comfort.
Rosebud was his secret.
The Great Gatsby – Edmund Scott Fitzgerald
The Great Gatsby is a story about the impossibility of recapturing the past and also the difficulty of altering one’s future. The protagonist of the novel is Jay Gatsby, who is the mysterious and wealthy neighbor of the narrator, Nick Carraway. Although we know little about Gatsby at first, we know from Nick’s introduction—and from the book’s title—that Gatsby’s story will be the focus of the novel. As the novel progresses and Nick becomes increasingly drawn into Gatsby’s complicated world, we learn what Gatsby wants: Daisy, Nick’s cousin, the girl he once loved. Anything and anyone that stands between Gatsby and Daisy becomes an antagonist. Although Daisy’s brutish husband Tom is the most obvious antagonist, a variety of more abstract concepts—such as class difference, societal expectations, and Gatsby’s past lies—can also be considered antagonists. The most powerful antagonist is time itself, which prevents Gatsby from recapturing what he lost.
Gatsby and Citizen Kane – Two Sides of the Same Coin
“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past”
https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/gatsby/plot-analysis/
These two stories, having been crafted within roughly 20 years of one another, are a study in what drives people to struggle with their current unsatisfactory circumstances and how wealth while recognized perhaps as a tool to obtain a lifetime dream, leads to further confusion. Sometimes, in the pursuit of worldly goals or the pursuit of people as prizes, a picture is lodged in the mind that does not correspond to current reality.
Kane, while wanting to rebel against the elder robber baron and his mentor, Thatcher, pursued goals without regard for the money that he inherited. This in part was to prove to Thatcher that he was nobler intentions. But Kane’s ego, bombast and ability to manipulate people was soon overwrought by his avarice and self importance. Kane drifted from the original innocent boyhood values from his simpler, and perhaps idolized past. “Rosebud” was an ideal that was elusive, as it did not anchor Kane to actions of virtue. Kane wanted to obtain victory, fame and power at all costs. He collected statues and beautiful things, yet these could not replace the value of “Rosebud”.
Gatsby also idealized his love for Daisy, and this remote connection to someone he really did not know as well as he thought forced him to accumulate wealth in order to capture her love. He remade himself in order to be worthy of Daisy’s admiration, respect and love. But this persona that he constructed was a
In the final falling action the book, Nick must also confront reality, as he realizes his glamorous, enigmatic neighbor was the poor son of farmers who got mixed up in criminal activities and had no true friends besides Nick. Nick tries to arrange a funeral for Gatsby, but none of the guests from his lavish parties come. Daisy and Tom leave town, and Nick is left alone with Gatsby’s father, who reveals the truth of his son’s humble beginnings as “James Gatz.” After the funeral Nick decides to return to the Midwest, where he is from, feeling disgusted by the “distortions” of the East. First, though, he visits Gatsby’s house one last time, boarded up and already defaced with graffiti, and reflects on the power of the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock that kindled Gatsby hope of recapturing the past up until the moment of his death. “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past,” he says, including himself in the tragedy of Gatsby’s fall.