In "How Body Modification Ended the War Against My Body," how would you describe the author's body image? Identify the passage that reveals how she...

The
author has, over time, developed a compassionate and loving body image.

The
sole focus of the entire essay is the author's body image, but the first time that the reader
truly understands the breadth and depth of the author's relationship and history with her body
is on the first page when she writes:

Prettifying my navel
seemed like an appropriate symbolic gesture, a peace offering to the part of me upon which I had
inflicted the most pain.

This sentence tells us that the
author has had difficulty with body image in the past: she inflicted pain on herself. It also
tells us that the author has acknowledged this past self-inflicted pain and is attempting to
make peace with her body and how she feels about it.

The contrast of
historical pain against current compassion makes the author's current self-love more emotionally
impactful.