Structure and POV

       The point of view in Every Day, is from our main character "A's" perspective. Once readers have bonded with this character, they are forced to see through his eyes, no matter what body he's in. Which technically, they experience things from many different points of view - considering "A" is in a new body every day - depending on the persons race, gender, sexuality, or social class. The lines below are from a morning when "A" awakes in a body that is very overweight.

        "The next morning it's hard to raise my head from the pillow, hard to raise my arms from my sides, hard to raise my body from the bed."

        "This is because I must weigh at least three hundred pounds." (270)

Literary Devices

On page 62 of Every Day, "A" has just woken up in the body of a drug addict. Levithan uses parallel structure in describing "A's" hardships in trying to cope with the instant withdrawal he's feeling from the moment he wakes up, until he goes to bed.

I read the next sentence.

I lock the door.

I read the third sentence.

.....

I read another sentence.

I must not leave this room.

I must not let the body out of this room. (62-63)

As seen above, Levithan uses punctuation to end his sentences abruptly and forcefully as if he's trying to show "A's" persistence in abstaining from drugs throughout this withdrawal. With these sentences not even being one line, they make a quick transition into the next one which conveys the intensity symbolizing how fast the mind is moving, even though theres only one thing on its mind, the spastic craving for drugs. 

Another literary device used throughout this book is ethos. Levithan uses this at a strategy to convey his purpose in writing the book: to have more sympathy for people of all genders, sexual orientation, ethnicities, shapes and sizes. By siding with our protagonist, "A", we feel sympathy for him in certain situations that he finds himself. 

In the example below, "A" awakes to her older sister yelling at her in Spanish, as she realizes she is an underage, illegal maid, on her period.

"I am sweating in my uniform. The cramps will not go away. The medicine cabinets are full, but I know that I am here to clean, not to take. Nobody would miss two Midol, but it's not worth the risk..." "After two hours, we are done with the house. I think that will be it, but there are four more houses after that. By the end, I can barely move, and my sister, seeing this, does the bathrooms with me. We are a team, and that kinship gives the day the only memory with keeping." (180)

Characterization

Characterization is interesting in this novel because the protagonist, "A", doesn't have a permanent body. But every day when "A" wakes up, Levithan gives an explanation of each the new body and an accurate prognosis of each persons life that "A" is in. "A" can tell very much about the person's body he's in that day, just by what their room looks like. Everyone "A" is inside of is 16 years old until one of them has a birthday, then he will be in a 17 year olds body until someone turns 18. One day, he wakes up as a girl with a fervent hangover; another day he wakes up as a boy so overweight that he can barely fit inside his car. The outward appearances of "A's" body from day to day vary from straight boys, gay girls, 16 year olds of different races, body shapes, sizes, conditions, and genders.

"My mind is thoroughly wrung out, but I can tell Nathan Darby has gotten a good nights sleep. Nathan is a good guy. Everything in his room is in order.  Even though it's only Saturday morning, he's already done his homework for the weekend. He's set his alarm for eight o'clock, not wanting the day to go to waste. He was probably in bed by ten." (66)

Characterization from day to day in this novel does not go far beyond the above example, but it's as much as "A" needs to know about the person for the day, until he's in a new body.

Tone & Diction

Levithan’s tone throughout this novel is moderately conservative, just like his choice of diction. “A” wakes up in a new body every day and his objective is keep the life of the persons body that he’s in as normal as possible, or, try not to influence their life from the course its already following. In order to do this, Levithan had to restrain from outgoing or aggressive diction, using more passive words that wont get the body he’s in in any trouble the next day, but at the same time, fills the novel with many descriptions of what its like to be in all different sorts of bodies. “A” is a 16 year old, ad remains that way until he is in the body of someone who turns 17, so for the most part, the diction is fairly basic. 

Theme & Authors Purpose

David Levithan’s purpose of writing, Every Day was undoubtedly to try and stretch readers minds to teach about what it’s like to be in another persons shoes. The main character goes by “A” because they’ve never had a permanent name for more than a day. You see, every morning A wakes up in another persons body. A is still A, though he has access to the mind of the person it is in that day. Readers cling to the character of A, while A explains the hardships and struggles of being in the body of different types of people, of different genders, and ethnicities. The authors purpose is to show what life is like behind different sets of eyes. "Immediately I have to figure out who I am. It's not just the body--opening my eyes and discovering whether the skin on my arm is light or dark, whether my hair is long or short, whether I'm fat or thin, boy or girl, scarred or smooth," (1). 

Something I think Levithan wants readers to take away from his novel is summarized by this quote: 

“Be nicer than usual, for everyone is enduring a struggle of their own. “

• T.H. Thompson and John Watson

The novel has a way of humbling a reader by making them realize that their life is better than they thought it was, it also shows them what the most important things in life are at the end of the day.