Every Day

 

Levithan, David. Every Day. New York: Random House, 2012. Print.
This section of the annotated bibliography was done by Doel F. Rodriguez
Part 1
Every Day by David Levithan was the second novel on our list for the semester, chosen from my Proposal list. Nicole was excited to read this novel since it had been sitting on her bookshelf for about a year; in my case, I had to read the book regardless of whether or not we chose it because it was an assigned title for another class. My own “reading for” going in was to see what I was supposed to learn from it that would apply to the other class I was required to read it for. As for Joe, the question on his mind was: “…is it better to be free of social subjugation on identity or in control of how you identify?” He figured the answer was “the key to unravelling the paradoxical” duality that drives the constructions of sexuality and gender in the book.
Some of our initial assumptions about what exactly “A” was were different. In her first blogpost, Nicole explained how she believed that A was a schizophrenic, which I thought was entirely possible. I hadn’t even considered schizophrenia and thought it made complete sense. On the other hand however, I initially believed A to be a ghost or a demon of some sort that could unknowingly possess a different body each day and is unable to stop it.
Summary
This one was filled with questions as much as it was filled with relevance to real-life. A is essentially an undefined being who wakes up in a new body each day. A (I’ll refer to A as “it”) is neither male nor female. It is a thinking being but is neither human nor demonic. It has its own memories and is actually able to “access” the memories and knowledge of the body it is inhabiting throughout the day. This allows A to get through most days without arousing suspicion as to his presence. A doesn’t actually know why it is able to do this, but chooses not to wonder so much. It tries to keep a low profile throughout the day and goes out of its way to avoid making decisions that will affect the life of the person it is in.
The story begins with A waking up in the body of Justin, who he finds is in a relationship with a very, VERY nice girl named Rhiannon. Given the kind of guy Justin turns out to be, A decides he doesn’t deserve Rhiannon and spends the following chapters (or “Days”) pursuing and eventually getting close to Rhiannon and even revealing that he changes bodies daily. At some point, A wakes up in the body of Nathan, who A accidently leaves on the side of a road while desperately trying to get home before midnight. Unfortunately, A cannot make it to Nathan’s home in time and A falls asleep in the car. This leads to Nathan beginning a religious following, claiming he was possessed by the devil himself.
A realized what kind of life it was leading, so it avoids making real connections with the people in the lives of the people it lives in because it knows it’ll be gone the next day. Growing up, it was infuriated when people mentioned anything about “tomorrow” because it knows it will be in a different body living a different life with different people the following day. Eventually, A realized that that it may be the only being that lives life the way it does. That all changed when A met Rhiannon while inhabiting the body of her boyfriend, Justin. A felt that Rhiannon was in a bad relationship though she seems to genuinely care about her boyfriend, Justin. Over the course of the day, A ends up connecting with Rhiannon and falls in love. It then spends the next few days he finding ways to be with her and eventually tells her of his true nature. While Rhiannon does accept that A is what it claims to be, she realizes she can never have a normal relationship with it. She struggles with his changing appearance each day but continues to feel a growing love for A.
At some point, A makes a mistake by leaving the body of Nathan Daldry, a young man he takes possession of, on the side of the road well after his curfew. To make matters worse, A also left his email open on Nathan’s computer. Nathan has the distinct memory of having been not quite in control of his body the day before and begins a religious following, claiming he was possessed by a demon. With access to A’s email address, he contacts A and demands answers. A eventually confesses what it is to Nathan, who calls on a priest for help. When they meet for the first time, A discovers that the priest, named Reverend Poole, is actually being inhabited by another being, apparently similar to A. Shortly thereafter, A realizes that it can’t give Rhiannon the relationship she deserves, and since it can’t remain in any body for longer than a day, A does the next best thing. It wakes up in the body of a boy named Alexander. A decides to plant the memory of meeting Rhiannon for the first time and falling in love with her, almost at first sight. A then gives Rhiannon an amazing date before begging her to give Alexander a chance, knowing that Alexander is a good guy and that he can make Rhiannon happy. The next day, A awakes in the body of a girl named Katie and makes plans to vacate the area.
Personally, I felt that the ending was implying that A had left to learn how to remain in a single body for more than a day, or even retake control of a body he’s already been in. Or, it could’ve just wanted to get out of the town and hope to wake up the next morning in the body of someone else in another city, away from Rhiannon, Poole and all that.
Value Graph
Since I can’t figure out how else I would write the ending sequence to the story, I decided to use that for this value graph. There is a lot more I want to say about this particular scene, but I’m going to save it for Part Three of this annotated bibliography.

valuegraphblank
To sum up this event, A (as Alexander) has just given Rhiannon the best date it could give her. Then, while they are together in Alexander’s tree house, A tells Rhiannon the purpose of it all. Of course, she takes offense, but later warms up to the idea and accepts it for what it is since she knows A may never be the same person twice.
Part 2
There are at least two genres that Every Day falls under: YA fiction and romance/love.
In his second blog post for the book, Joe focused on the genre of love and how that concept affects the adolescent identity and how it informs the reader’s association/disassociation with the characters’ identity. In the story, A mentions how he tries to avoid making connections with anyone for obvious reasons. Rhiannon was the first (and possibly only) exception, and she becomes a constant in A’s life. It feels love for her and it’s clear that it spends the entirety of the book crusading its way to seeing her at least once daily. But what kind of message is the author trying to send here? That adolescent love is insignificant and that it shouldn’t matter what body someone is in?
In case of the novel being a YA novel, not only is the purpose of YA fiction for readers to find themselves and relate to in as many ways as possible, but also for the readers to understand the characters and what it means to be a young adult. In Every Day, we can understand major characters such as A, Rhiannon, and Nathan as we read through. Most will ask how it is possible to relate to a being that is neither male nor female and isn’t physical, but think about it. We relate to A in the sense that we’ve all had loves or crushes. In Rhiannon’s case, the relation there comes from the tough decisions she makes in her love life and eventually chooses what her heart wants.
As for the form, the one I applied to the text was the qualitative progressive form, which involves foreshadowing. On Day 6007 (page 148 in the book), A wakes up as an extremely attractive young lady by the name of Ashley. A attempts to use Ashley’s physical appearance to get Justin to show his “true colors” so Rhiannon can see that he is not deserving of her. The plan backfires, and shortly thereafter, a crucial event occurs in the gymnasium of Rhiannon’s high school that was inadvertently caused by A showing up in the body of another guy. Essentially, it causes Justin to want to fight the person A is inside of and later break up with Rhiannon. I immediately believed A’s “stunt” as Ashley might have served as some kind of foreshadowing for this, especially given A’s desire to be with Rhiannon. As I read, I came across another event that might’ve been some more foreshadowing. A awakes in the body of AJ, who happens to be a student at the same high school that Nathan attends. During their lunch period, A notices that Nathan is alone at his own table. A accesses AJ’s memory and finds that he has known Nathan for quite some time, and goes over to say hello. They have a small, menial conversation as A asks Nathan about his side of the story (claiming demonic possession) and how it’s affecting him personally. I figured this was a setup for an even bigger event or confrontation between A and Nathan.
An alternate form that was applicable to the text was the syllogistic progressive form. This form involved coming to a conclusion that is already in the text; in other words, making an accurate prediction. Nicole made such a prediction before arriving on page 188 when A wakes up in the body of none other than Rhiannon herself. It just so happened that this would occur almost immediately after she tells A that she’d rather not see it for a few days while she debates whether or not she’d like to continue having it in her life.
Part 3
By my third blogpost, I had already finished the book and found that our questions about what exactly A was and how it came to be. I never found a reason to resistant to the text, so I remained a submissive reader throughout. As I read, I found myself applying the thematization and the jamming parts of the hermeneutic code to most situations described in the text. Instead of simply asking the same question stated above, I began asking whether or not it would be able to remain in the same body for more than one day. Even A wonders if this is possible as well as the possibility that it may not be the only being that can travel from body to body. The answer to that question did reveal itself, and it was a bit of a surprise. In the case of jamming, I realized that A inadvertently applies it to its circumstances. Like me and partners, A has no idea why or how it can live the way it does. It didn’t ask for it and even mentions that it just grew accustomed to the feeling after spending most of its childhood grieving over the fact that it will never see the same family the next morning. However, A does desire an answer as to how and why it is possible; and by extension, it desires the ability to remain in the same body for as long as possible so that it can be with Rhiannon.
Nicole chose a similar approach along with some additional intertextual codes. Shortly after awaking in a new body, A finds an email from none other than Nathan who, after waking up in his car at the side of a road, realizes that he didn’t have any real control of his body the previous day. He goes on to claim demonic possession, and A responds in an attempt to convince Nathan that it is not his enemy. Nicole figured this to be a proposal of the enigma which meant that this part of the text brings forth the actual mystery that I’ve mentioned. As we continued, we saw short email exchanges between A and Nathan. A continuously tries to convince Nathan that this “possession” will never happen again since A has no control over his “abilities” and knows that he can’t wake up in the same body twice. Nathan remains skeptical and keeps pressing A for the truth. This led to A going into a state of self-reflection, thus magnifying the mystery that is his character. Formulation of the enigma. A knows it can do harm to the people it lives in, but chooses to use his days to be with Rhiannon and perpetually goes out of its way to see regardless of the host’s life and circumstances. The two characters’ email exchange continues as A holds back the truth (suspended answer) when Nathan asks for it. Eventually, A does reveal what he is to Nathan as he did to Rhiannon, creating a moment of disclosure for Nathan.
Joe actually goes in from a different angle. To be completely honest, I didn’t know how else to summarize or paraphrase his take, so for lack of a better way to say what he said, I’ll just leave his entire third post for Everyday in the quotation box below:

“To drive the controversy behind David Levithan’s novel Everyday, he utilizes the symbolic code of belief versus Belief. That is, the personal belief of Rhiannon which seeks to affirm, in a positive way, the existence of A. This is pitted against the collective Belief–Christianity and the suspicion of the devil at work–instilled within the belief of Nathan which seeks to affirm, in a negative way, the existence of A. It is a matter, simply put, as to which connotation wins out. Personal belief is fueled by the individual’s uniqueness, and therefore cannot be taken away from them, as it is “part” of their character (e.g. Rhiannon’s kindness leads her to fend off her doubts about A). The collective Belief draws from its power to dominate the personal belief; that is, to suck the uniqueness away and replace it with a generalized truth. Throughout the book, these two concepts are embattled in a race to reach affirmation of A’s existence first. Therefore, what is this symbolic code asking about a possible cultural code? That it is inherent in society for collective and personal beliefs to war? It is no coincidence that an archaic form of Christianity finds its way barred by the less-complicated purity of a young girl’s selflessness. In short, I assert that there is a very modern cultural code that can be seen springing from the symbolic: the personal belief of the individual is more precious and righteous than the institutionalized old-world witch-hunting that is personified in the actions of Nathan Daldry. This is proven by the symbolic code’s connotations: the personal belief is there to prove a positive connotation that A is something good; conversely, the collective Belief is there to prove a negative connotation that A is the result of the devil. In Everyday, it is clear how the symbolic leads the reader to the cultural, and how both work to reciprocally inform the reader of the implicit textual functionalities.”

Joe mentions religion, which reminds me of a conversation we had with Professor Kopp about Catholicism and how it may relate to the ending sequence of the novel. The final day of the book consists of A going out on a date with Rhiannon as it operates in the body of a young man named Alexander. While in Alexander, A gives Rhiannon the best day it could give her. Their date ends in a tree house that Alexander has in his backyard, and A drops a bomb on her. It is leaving, and is leaving her to Alexander who, according to A, has a personality that resembles A’s the most. Given this, A knows that Alexander will achieve what A wants the most by the end: Rhiannon’s happiness. We ended up comparing this to the departure of Christ in Catholicism. A leaving her with Alexander seemed to be equivalent to Christ leaving his followers and believers with the Holy Spirit.
Part 4
I had already finished Every Day by the third and fourth blogposts, and I truly enjoyed it. Unfortunately, the question of who or what the protagonist, A, really is remained unanswered. But there was something I had realized as I kept reading. The more I read of the book, the less I found myself asking this same question over and over again. Instead, I found myself hoping that A actually got to see Rhiannon at some point in the day and even get closer to her. Even with A’s “condition,” we as the readers still tried to hope that A is successful in making his love for Rhiannon work. Sadly, this wasn’t the result. By the end of the book, all A really wanted was Rhiannon’s happiness, and it led to A creating the ending of the whole story before waking up in yet another body and running away as I mentioned in Part Three.
Of course, there will be those readers who will remain curious as to what A is and why it is undefined. Even Joe doesn’t have an answer to the question “What is A?” Once again, I cannot paraphrase his words, so I’ll leave this here:

“…something vaguely applicable was borne from my wonderings. Although I believe that identity is self-imposed, it is also ephemeral. What that means is that we constantly define ourselves, but we will never settle on one definition–therefore, I am singularly indefinable by the unstoppable process of discarding and trying-on a myriad number of definitions. I too believe that the author of Every Day knew this to be true, for we have many lives lived within many different assumed states of being–but never to stand still and admire what is.”

– Joe

If there’s one thing a reader needs to understand about this book, it is this: Even though it is never revealed what that A really is, this issue is not a crucial part of the story. It is a mystery that simply remains unsolved, and the reader must accept that. There’s also a another thing that a reader should realize, and that is that Levithan wants us to believe that the biggest reason A perpetually chases Rhiannon is because it loves her and wants her to see that he has what Nicole called a core self within each body he woke up in.

While still keeping the mimetic feelings and emotions as a part of my reading, I could dig deeper into what the narrator and author really wants us to think as my reading went on.

– Nicole