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Abel
Trevor’s younger brother, the son of Abel and Patricia. Trevor and Andrew are never particularly close—Andrew is nine years younger and much closer to his father, whereas Trevor fears and avoids Abel. This is because Abel respects Andrew (his firstborn) but sees Trevor as a threat (a reminder of Patricia’s past relationship with Robert). In fact, Andrew frequently tries to talk Abel down during his violent outbursts, including the final one when he shoots Patricia in the head. After this incident, Andrew is the one to call Trevor and accompany him at the hospital. Trevor finds it difficult to imagine how painful it must be for Andrew to reconcile his love for both Abel and Patricia after this attempted murder.
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Andrew Character Timeline in Born a Crime
The timeline below shows where the character Andrew appears in Born a Crime. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1
...“war club” and threatens the car’s driver. So Noah, his mother, and his baby brother Andrew get in the minibus.
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...At a stoplight, they jump out of the car—Patricia pushes Trevor out and jumps with Andrew after him—and then take off running, which is second nature by now.
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Chapter 18
...name, Ngisaveni, means “be afraid.” They get married anyway, and soon Patricia has another son, Andrew, when Trevor is nine years old. They visit Abel’s family in the tropical Tsonga homeland,...
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After Andrew’s birth, Abel increasingly tries to “impose his ideas of what he thought his family should...
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...up, Patricia keeps yelling at him, and he hits her again. She brings Trevor and Andrew to the police station.
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...will be fine, that they understand that “it happens,” and not to worry. Patricia takes Andrew and Trevor to Soweto, and a few weeks later, Abel comes to apologize. Frances encourages...
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Unlike with Trevor, Patricia stops physically disciplining Andrew relatively early on. She learns this lesson from Trevor, who is never violent, even though...
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...still manages to hit him on occasion. On the other hand, Abel loves and respects Andrew, his firstborn and the only person in the house who is not afraid of his...
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...Soon, Patricia and Abel move to separate bedrooms, and Trevor is counting the years until Andrew turns 18—and then Patricia gets pregnant and gives birth to Isaac nine months later.
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...Trevor gets a phone call from his mom’s number on a Sunday morning. It is Andrew, reporting that “mom’s been shot.” Trevor immediately knows who did it and rushes to the...
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...and she tells Trevor, “it’s okay, baby. I’m fine.” She tells Trevor to go to Andrew, and he does.
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Andrew tells Trevor the story in more detail: Abel drunkenly insisted that he would kill the...
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Andrew does not know what has happened to Abel. Trevor decides to call him, and he...
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...murder and gets three years of probation—no prison time. He still has partial custody of Andrew and Isaac and is “walking around Johannesburg today, completely free,” still living in the same...
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