Question

Why does the major stare out the window toward the end of the story, instead of staring at the pictures of restored limbs?

Answer 1

To the other wounded soldiers, the images of restored limbs represented hope. However, the major was a man who had lost all hope. He had lost his wife unexpectedly and chose to distance himself from anything in life he could lose to spare himself the pain. This hopelessness left the major disillusioned and, therefore, he chose to look out the window and away from the pictures representing what was, to him, false hope.

Answer 2

Nick firmly recommends the non-intrusive treatment machines are inadequate, both for him and for the Italian major with the shriveled hand. The major over and over voices the supposition that the machines are futile. Toward the finish of the story, he scarcely focuses on his treatment, picking rather gaze out the window of the clinic. The entire reason that Nick stays in Italy and partners with the general population depicted in this story is to get treatment at the doctor's facility, and Hemingway infers that this treatment is pointless.