2

There is one sentence from this article I am not sure I understood correctly.

孤独を現実的に捉えている人は少ないですね。仕事が生きがいだったり、拘束されている分、自由に憧れる人もいます。

I need help on how だったり and 分 works here. This is how I interpret the bold sentence

仕事が生きがいだったり拘束されたりしていればいるほど、自由に憧れる人もいます。

Is that correct?

Johnny Williams
  • 21
  • 2

1 Answers1

1

The original is not very clear.

My reading is: 仕事が生きがいである人もいれば、(拘束されている分、自由に憧れる)人もいる.

So it means, there are some people who take works as their objective of life and others who are 'bound' in some way and wish for freedom. These are two kinds of people who do not 孤独を現実的に捉えている. The former bury themselves in work and the latter wish for freedom (from being among people and therefore constrained) so that both do not 孤独を現実的に捉えている (the latter may think of 孤独 even positively).

sundowner
  • 36,445
  • 2
  • 19
  • 57
  • Thanks for the answer! So だったり means "and"? Also, 分 means a part or portion that should be filled by 自由に憧れる? (similar to 代わりに) – Johnny Williams Dec 02 '21 at 05:41
  • The grammar of the original is a little improper since it's transcript. Regarding たり, it can be considered as giving examples. Another more grammatical version (retaining たり) would be 仕事が生きがいであったり、拘束されている分自由に憧れたりする. Re 分, it literally means as much as. Maybe this might help as well. – sundowner Dec 02 '21 at 06:46