Kurt Vonnegut: Twenty Dollar Bill Leaves
on Wednesday, July 8, 2015Kurt Vonnegut Money Quotation providing description of a money tree & government flowers from Slaughterhouse Five character Kilgore Trout. Kurt Vonnegut said:
“Trout, incidentally, had written a book about a money tree. It had twenty-dollar bills for leaves. Its flowers were government bonds. Its fruit was diamonds” — Kurt Vonnegut
In this whimsical quote, Kurt Vonnegut is describing a fictional “money tree” conceived by the character Trout in one of his books. The tree’s leaves are made of $20 bills, its flowers are investment bonds, and its fruit are diamonds – all highly valuable commodities.
Vonnegut seems to be satirizing the pursuit of wealth through this absurd image of a plant that literally grows currency and precious goods. His creation of the money tree appears to comment on societal obsession with acquiring money and material assets, portraying their accumulation as easy and carefree as picking fruit from a tree.
The quote taps into Vonnegut’s signature absurdist, satirical style to poke fun at how chasing riches has become deeply ingrained in modern culture yet often bears little resemblance to realistic means of attaining financial security and comfort.
Birthday: November 11, 1922 – Death: April 11, 2007