"Trout had written a book about a money tree. It had $20 for leaves. Its flowers were government bonds. Its fruit was diamonds. It attracted human beings who killed each other around the roots and made very good fertilizer." pg 167
Vonnegut has made good use of his sarcastic irony so far, but this time, he outdid himself. This is an analogy between war and a battle over a money tree. It also suggests personal beliefs of Vonnegut's that all war essentially has its proverbial roots in money. The humans that kill each other around the tree are the creatures of war. None of them get the tree because they all die defending it. Just how war is essentially spending a ridiculous amount of money on an activity that kills citizens of the participating countries. Their bodies fertilize the ground so the tree only grows more. This shows how war only perpetuates itself the more people die. Vonnegut's analogy is not only a bitter reflection on war, but a humorous interpretation of how it all goes.
I loved the irony in this anecdote. People always say "Money doesn't grow on trees!" in a way that insinuates that it would be good if it did. People don't think of the real ramifications if that happened, so I loved how Vonnegut pointed out the negative aspect of a money tree.
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