Contemporary prose frequently deals with ‘family martyrdom’. The heroines of Kaja Malanowska’s 'Patrz na mnie, Klaro' obsessively return to their difficult family past. Inherited strain turns into other idiosyncrasies. Grażyna Maroszczuk’s sketch entitled ‘Without anaesthesia. On difficult family relations. Kaja Malanowka Patrz na mnie Klaro’ focuses on the analysis of women’s entanglements that are still alive, though acquired in the past. Experiences from childhood become the matrix for reading the world in adulthood. On the other hand – according to Stephen M. Johnson’s 'Humanizing the Narcissistic Style' – one may say that we fail to dispose of the behaviours that are an integral part of our culture, which is contrary to life and which puts achievements above pleasure, status above love and appearances above reality. It puts the heroines of the above-mentioned novels in an oppressive situation in which a contemporary woman is forced to reconcile a career and intellectual ambitions with family life.