This article studies the choice of object in adolescence, in particular from the point of view of the theory of the relations between objects. In a brief overview, the author mentions some pertinent contributions of Klein, Bion, Winnicott and Meltzer to the theme of the role and functions of the object in the development of the subject. He uses a clinical case to illustrate the narcissistic retreats that can occur in adolescence, with reference to Meltzer’s theory of the cloister as a defence against the primitive anxieties that emerge during this period. The clinical case shows principally, at the end of an analytic process, the fantasy of leaving the cloister in order to make more creative identifications with the original objects.