We're All Drifters

Love. /ləv/. Noun. An intense feeling of deep affection. According to its definition, love is very simple–– an intense feeling of deep affection. However, from our own experiences, and knowing love itself, it can be described as anything but simple. The question thus arises, “what makes love so complicated?” While this could be answered, and most likely has been answered in a variety of ways, the book Everyday by David Leviathan gives readers insight on the very complicated concept that is, love. David Leviathan communicates his numerous ideas through a love story, between two unsuspecting people. One who switches bodies from day to day, A, and another who stays in one body, Rhiannon. A is a drifter, inhabiting bodies but never really living in them. He’s grown accustomed to the life of an eternal guest but after meeting Rhiannon through the body of her boyfriend, A’s perspective changes. A really fell in love, as cliché as that may sound, because he practically slipped into loving Rhiannon. As I mentioned before, A was a drifter, focusing on getting through today and looking forward to tomorrow, and trying to make as little of a ripple in life as possible. However, A felt a difference the day he met Rhiannon, and that feeling was love. In a way, we’re all drifters, searching for love until we can find someone who can make us stay. For A, Rhiannon was that person.

A knew that love was the key to stop his drifting, and the only way to attain this feeling was to get Rhiannon. Towards the beginning of the story, A stopped at nothing to get Rhiannon, even breaking his own rules about keeping the body’s life, upon which he was inhabiting, intact. A explained who he was to Rhiannon and tried to make her understand how much he meant to him––it was working, and a relationship showed signs of being established, but was nevertheless an uphill battle. Rhiannon was unsure and indecisive about her own identity, negatively influencing her responses to A’s many pushes to pursue her. Towards the middle of the story, Rhiannon grew more and more uncomfortable with the conditions of her relationship with A. In some bodies, it was harder to see through its mask and keep in mind that A was behind the fat, or the makeup. A started to notice Rhiannon distancing herself from him, and he too, became uncomfortable with the conditions of their relationship. For A, it was troubling that he would never be able to wake up next to Rhiannon, or ever meet her friends. Ultimately, A knew that it would be impossible to be with Rhiannon, so in the end of the book he shifted course. A realized that he didn't want to physically stay, but rather, have evidence of his presence. In one of his most memorable experiences with Rhiannon and in a body, through Alexander, A had both his first and last date with Rhiannon. In the final moments between them, A was able to leave a piece of himself behind, in the experience he shared with Rhiannon, and finally stay.

According to David Leviathan, “people take love’s continuity for granted,”. In other words, people forget about love’s tendency to have a lasting presence, but it’s all we search for––longevity. This feeling is what we desire in many aspects of life, as we look for longevity in life itself, a job, experiences, even a sandwich. So it makes sense why we look for it so much; we miss it just as it’s right where we want it, vanishing as soon as it appears. All in all, in both Everyday and in life, longevity and presence are things everyone looks for, so much so that we become drifters searching for whatever can make us stay.