The major shows courage but he is frustrated with his injury and has little hope of substantially recovering from it. According to the narrator, his hand is like a baby's hand. Adding more frustration to this, the major had been the best fencer in Italy prior to the war. With this injury, presuming it is on his dominant hand, he will never fence at that level again. And perhaps, he will never fence again. Despite these frustrations, the major goes to his rehabilitation with a stoic and sometimes sarcastic discipline.
The major came very regularly to the hospital. I do not think he ever missed a day, although I am sure he did not believe in the machines.
The major criticizes the narrator about his grammar and calls him a "stupid impossible disgrace." He also says he is a fool if he wants to be married. The major has no hope of recovering use of his hand, he is disillusioned by the war, and he has just lost his wife to pneumonia. This is why he chastises the narrator about marriage:
If he is to lose everything, he should not place himself in a position to lose that. He should not place himself in a position to lose. He should find things he cannot lose.
The major takes out his frustrations and his grief on the narrator. And this is possibly because he knows no other way of venting his anguish. He feels the need to project his feelings somewhere or to someone.
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