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> ...猫の写真を見ないですむと思うと、同情しろという方が無理だった。  
>  When he thought that he could get away without seeing any cat photos,
> sympathy was impossible.

In my translation I've condensed all of 同情しろという方 into just one word: sympathy.
I'm struggling with how to unpack this. One problem is that I don't know
whether 方 is ほう or かた. I can think of two ways this might go:

  1. 同情しろという方{かた}が無理だった - a person saying that you should be sympathetic would have been unreasonable.
  2. 同情しろという方{ほう}が無理だった - the side of him that said he should be sympathetic was impossible/unreasonable.

I think option 2. makes more sense but I'm not certain.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-12-30T18:06:43.347
73664
2019-12-31T01:18:32.967
2019-12-30T23:59:51.857
7944
7944
question
grammar
Imperative form + という方
> 「猫{ねこ}の写真{しゃしん}を見{み}ないですむと思{おも}うと、同情{どうじょう}しろという **方** が無理{むり}だった。」

First, the 「方」 is read 「ほう」.

Reading it 「かた」 would not be a possibility here as 「[Person] が無理だった」 is an
unnatural-sounding phrase to begin with.

> 「[Verb Phrase in Imperative Form] + という方{ほう}が + [Phrase with **Negative**
> Content]」

This pattern should be remembered almost as a set phrase as it is used quite
often.

It expresses one's idea/opinion that one of the two possible options/ways of
doing something is more strange/unusual/unreasonable/unrecommendable, etc.

The two options here are: 1) telling one to be sympathetic and 2) telling one
not to be sympathetic.

Finally, the common 'negative' phrases that are often placed right after the
「という方が」 include 「おかしい」、「変{へん}だ」、「どうかしている」, etc.
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2019-12-30T23:04:31.920
73669
2019-12-31T01:18:32.967
2019-12-31T01:18:32.967
73664
answer