Learning How to Love

The book Every Day by David Levithan is about A, the protagonist, who is a thought, or a traveling idea that lands in a new body each and every morning. There is no real reason as to why A exists, but  A struggles to keep their own thoughts and self being while being forced to impersonate person after person without being caught or suspected. A has managed to maintain this delicate balance of staying hidden in the shadows of other people but staying just far enough out in the open as to not be noticed, that is, until A meets Rhiannon, a loving, frail teenage girl with a controlling, insensitive boyfriend named Justin. And when A wakes up in Justin's body and meets Rhiannon, A instantly falls head over heels in love with her. And when A finds out the way that she's treated by Justin, it breaks A's heart. So each day, as A switches bodies and becomes farther and farther away from Rhiannon, A tries desperately to cling on to what they had together. Every Day is about the constant struggles that A goes through to make attachments and connections when they are constantly being torn from them. How can someone learn to love themselves and others around them when everyone and everything changes every single day?

In the beginning of the book, after A spends a romantic day at the ocean in Justin's body with Rhiannon, but has to leave with the knowledge that they will never see her again, A says "This is hard for me. I have gotten so used to what I am, and how my life works. I never want to stay. I'm always ready to leave. But not tonight. Tonight I'm haunted by the fact that tomorrow he'll be here and I won't be." A has taught themself to never grow attached to anything, but when they meet Rhiannon, something about her personality sticks to A like velcro. Later, after A confesses what they are to Rhiannon and how they live, switching from one body to another and she eventually believes them, A begins to make sacrifices in other people's bodies and lives just to see and be close to Rhiannon. A leaves a boy sleeping in his car, parked in the middle of a highway far away from his house and almost ruins several relationships. This shows that A's commitment to Rhiannon is something he's willing to be reckless for because he has never actually had any kind of close relationship with anyone. Finally, at the end of the book, A realizes that they cannot fulfill what Rhiannon needs and decides to stop seeing her and separate from her. This is one of the first selfless things A does in the book and it shows a maturity and growth in A. Even though they cannot stay the same person, A can work on their personality and how they deal with situations. Rhiannon was an example of something A wanted so badly but had to learn how to know when to let go. Sometimes, when the thing you love the most is being hurt, you need to decide whether you car more about its self being or yours, and when you really love something a lot of the time you have to put that thing before yourself.