I told her, "Humans are the only animal that blushes, laughs, has religion, wages war, and kisses with lips. So in a way, the more you kiss with lips, the more human you are." "And the more you wage war?" (99)

The illustration is a painting that was done by Eric Drooker.

After Abby asked that question, Oskar was quieted for a moment. He had been trying to find love (or at least a pleasant moment), and in return was given thoughts of violence. This moment is a parallel to the other main characters in the book, who had all tried so hard to have and hold onto love, but in the end were faced with violence, loss, and disappointment.

This passage is meant to be particularly unpleasant, because war is generally thought to be something that is inhuman. However, it is obvious from Oskar's factoid that war is one of the most human things of all. On the one hand, Abby is concurring that only humans are capable of something as horrible as war. However, the point could also be interpreted as “war has the ability to bring out the humanity in people.” When people are victimized by war, such as POWs, they see their own mortality.

Resistance is a huge exercise of humanity. When the victims of an attack retaliate, they are not simply killing for the sake of killing. They are saying, “I am a human, and that means something, and you will not kill me or imprison me if I have anything to say about it.” When Oskar’s grandfather was met with the cruelty of war, he lost his humanity in a way by losing the ability to talk. Oskar’s grandmother on the other hand dealt with the cruelty of war by trying her hardest to move on and not let herself be affected by it. By persevering, she was demonstrating her humanity. Mr. Black, who followed war as a reporter, was ignoring his humanity by neglecting his wife. However, he eventually came to his senses and realized that in order to really live, he had to love.