Citizen Kane Scene 14 Summary

  • The day after Kane's run-in with Gettys, we see the story of his affair on the front-page news. When they know he'll lose the election, his newspaper prints a story saying there was fraud at the polling stations.
  • Kane walks alone in his newspaper office and runs into Leland, who is drunk. There are sagging party streamers hanging from everything in the office, which reminds us that Kane's victory speech was a little premature.
  • Kane knows that he's set back the cause of reform in the U.S. for many years.
  • Leland accuses Kane of treating "the people" as his property, as though he could give them their freedom like it was a gift.
  • But the workingman is about to step up and demand his rights and not expect people like Kane to give it to them.
  • Leland says that he would like to go work on Kane's Chicago paper, and Kane eventually lets him go.
  • Kane toasts to "Love on my own terms" because he thinks "Those are the only terms any man will ever know—his own." Kane is convinced that love is only worthwhile if it's completely on your own terms and if you can control it.