The Devil/Demons (Symbol)
The antagonists in Every Day, Nathan Daldry and Reverend Poole, use the religious fear of demon possession to propel their cause and apply pressure on A. Nathan and Reverend Poole seek A out for different reasons—Nathan simply wants answers, and the reverend wants to control A—but both use the fervor of evangelical religious communities to spread Nathan's story and compel A to give in. After seeing homophobic protesters at a Pride parade, A reflects on "how people use the devil as an alias for the things they fear," concluding that "the devil doesn't make anyone do anything," but people "just do things and blame the devil after" (142). Throughout Every Day, Nathan and his supporters do exactly this, attributing A's existence to the devil and categorizing A as evil. This judgment is based entirely on fear of the unknown, rather than any actual assessment of A's character. A, of course, is not a demon or associated with the devil. Instead, A is an empathetic and moral being whose difference from regular humans is a matter of chance, not nefariousness. Levithan uses the theme of the devil and demons to enforce this point, using the public's misguided fear of A to illustrate the ways closed-mindedness and zealousness can lead us to the wrong conclusions.
The enormity (Motif)
Throughout the novel, Levithan uses the term "enormity" to refer to a deep, overwhelming feeling of human connection. At times, the enormity refers to A's feelings for Rhiannon: "Flashes of Rhiannon rise up in my mind's eye. I try to tamp them down, but they're not that easy to contain. Once you experience enormity, it lingers everywhere you look, and wants to be in every word you say" (32). At other points, Levithan uses "enormity" to refer to a more general feeling of human interconnectedness: "Everybody wants to belong to something bigger than themselves, and everybody wants company in doing that...they want to touch the enormity" (77). Levithan returns to this unique use of the word "enormity" throughout the novel, always in reference to the universality of feelings of empathy, love, and connection.
Romeo and Juliet (Allegory)
Levithan alludes to William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet two times early on in the novel. The first time, A calls Leslie Wong's brother "Romeo" when commenting on his story about fighting over a girl (44). The second time, A mentions "the plot of Romeo and Juliet" when listing the "every day memories" A holds on to throughout life (53). Romeo and Juliet—perhaps the most famous and most ubiquitous tale of forbidden love in history—provides a parallel to Rhiannon and A's love story. Both young couples face insurmountable obstacles to their relationships, and both attempt to defy these odds. The specific circumstances of each couple are dissimilar—Romeo and Juliet face their families' disapproval, whereas A and Rhiannon face the challenges of A's unique existence—but both couples fight to be together, even though their relationships seem impossible.
The 24-hour day (Symbol)
Due to the circumstances of A's existence, each new day represents both a fierce challenge and a unique opportunity. Unlike regular people, A has a vastly different experience with each new day, which can make each 24-hour period feel like "another world" (34). Levithan illustrates this point with the novel's structure; each chapter follows A's experience through a full day inhabiting a new host body, and Levithan names the chapters by the number of days A has been alive (Day 6001, Day 6002). Although all the chapters come together to form one cohesive narrative, their separation into wildly different 24-hour periods also gives each chapter a separate, stand-alone quality, which mimics A's experience of each new day being its own entity.
Eyes (Symbol)
Although A's appearance changes each day, one thing remains constant, allowing Rhiannon to recognize A in each new body: the look in A's eyes. In Every Day, a person's eyes represent their true self, the individual personality that exists outside of their physical appearance. Rhiannon can recognize A in this way regardless of each host body's appearance, claiming that the way A looks at Rhiannon is a dead giveaway. This is the reason A avoids letting Rhiannon see A's eyes on the day that A wants to remain unnoticed at Rhiannon's school. The eyes also represent the unique way a person sees the person they love, recognizing something individual and special beyond what other people see. A reflects that "people are rarely as attractive in reality as they are in the eyes of the people who are in love with them," but A finds it "heartening to think that the attachment you have can define your perception as much as any other influence” (34).
