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"The ego of an individual," as Anna Freud noted, "begins first and foremost as a body ego." This paper discusses the uses of the body image in the normal development of adolescence and in such abnormal conditions as anorexia nervosa. Ritvo notes that "the body ego lends itself to the plastic representation of ideation and unconscious fantasy." He ties this to the use of verbal language, symbolization, and figurative expression, which "provide the psyche with a rich storehouse of potential imagery." The earliest figures of speech use the body as metaphor. W. Hoffer suggested that the body is an early object of the instincts; it reflects the developmental aspects of the drives as they progress through the psychosocial stages. With these ideas in mind, Ritvo looks at normal development, both in early childhood and again in adolescence, when "the sexually mature body and its needs are a threat to the adolescent" and require various defensive forms of flight. At this time the adolescent relies on the metaphoric use of the body and its functions for defense and relief of tension. Finally, Ritvo focuses on the eating function, the earliest frustrating and gratifying experience with another person, its relation to incorporative