There’s no warning or surprise about the ghostly-being in the story. Readers are instantly informed about the character and what is happening from the start. For me, the surprising part about the character was the fact that no one can tell the gender of them—it wasn’t clear on the fact about them being male or female, but it didn’t matter. The spirit of “A”, or whatever you want to call them, felt natural in a sense. You never can be certain which gender a ghostly-being is, so the safest thing to do is to see them as they are.
Every Day is about a person, or ghostly-being, who wakes up every morning in a different body, living as that person for the day. “A” doesn’t get to choose which gender they can be or what they can look like; however, “A” can in fact control the body of the person that they are in at the moment. It is almost as if “A” has multiple personalities. People who have multiple personalities disorder, or DID (dissociative identity disorder), are characterized as having two or more distinct personalities. When “A” wakes up as a new person, they take on a new identity even though “A” has the same mind—but it’s different for people who have DID because the other identities can take over the mind and body while the individual is stuck inside (like a prisoner).
Hopefully this article will help explain it better:
Moreover, every day for “A” was the same. They followed the rules, which were: to never get too attached, to not interfere with the person’s life or risk their safety, and to avoid being noticed—these rules were followed until they met Rhiannon. Imagine what it is like to accept the fact that you are different from everyone else and no one knows that you exist, then you meet someone and you realize that things aren’t fair. You can’t spend time with them the way that you want to and you can’t love them the way that they want you to—you can only just be there, but as someone new every time. “A” broke the rules because they realized that Rhiannon was someone whom they wanted to be with every day—as the same person, day after day without changing.
I think that if people could change who they are or act by becoming a new person, then maybe they could understand other people more. “A” got to experience what it is like to be a different person every day and they were able to see things from a different perspective.
It’s a new dawn
It’s a new day
It’s a new life
For me
And I’m feeling good
⁃ Nina Simone