Translation Exercise: 「私は会社と結婚したのに」

I stopped by the used bookstore today. I found The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language (1988), A book of short stories by "Japanese Women Writers" translated into Japanese, and a book of 120 short essays by a woman named Masako Itou. Each one is only about two pages. I thought they would make for good translation exercises. Here is the first:

「私は会社と結婚したのに」, from 『女のセリフ１２０』 by 伊藤雅子 ( 未来社, 1995)

"But I'm Married to the Company"

You may think the words above were uttered by a person resolutely sacrificing himself to his work, but these are the words of a wife, upon hearing that her husband, an employee at a top-level company, had decided to quit and open his own business.

The husband smiled wryly. "Well, you're half joking." But whether they are an exaggeration or the truth,  the wife's words very eloquently describe the true form of what we call marriage. I may even say that her words glaringly reveal a misunderstanding common to men.

There are often men who confuse the prestige of their rank with the strength of their character, or who erroneously believe that a good income is equivalent to their dignity as a human being. There are also many, many men who are preoccupied with the belief that they as people are held in high regard, when it is only their titles that are venerated -- it is only their labels that rate highly. This is laughable.

But it cannot be said that this tendency exists only in men. The truth is that there are women who marry themselves to the titles of such men. Brand-obsession is not merely a matter of wristwatches and handbags; through marriage, a woman earns status by buying a 'brand-husband'. This is considered a woman's utmost happiness.

I hear strains of "An Essay Against Marriage" author Hideko Okada*: "Man buys love with money, and woman buys money with love."

There are people who, when they see a wife taking a great deal of trouble over her husband's health, call her shameless. A woman's rank is decided by her husband's company position and economic power. Love, which should be the purest of all things, is prone to distortion when a woman's husband is her livelihood.

*岡田秀子、『反結婚論』