Andrew Price

Andrew Price was a teenager and one of the main characters in the novel. He was initially the best friend of Fats, a friendship which began to break up by the end of the novel as they both realized that they did not have as much in common as they thought. Andrew suffered from a potentially-lethal peanut allergy, hence his nickname "Peanut". His main nickname, "Arf", was almost certainly from the expression "half-price"; it is also possible that his middle name, if he had one (we are not told), was Arthur.

He suffered both verbal and physical abuse at the hands of father, Simon Price, who possessed an explosive temper.

Characterisation
Andrew Price lived in Pagford, in Hilltop House. As the book progressed, Andrew's friendship with Fats tightened and then loosened, and his career as a stockroom-porter at The Copper Kettle introduced him to his love interest, Gaia and her friend Sukhvinder.

Outward Appearance
Andrew was around sixteen, with vivid acne that earned him the name "Pizza Face" from his Father. He had brown hair and an average build.

Family
Andrew was the son of Ruth and Simon "Si-Pie" Price. Simon constantly abused Andrew and his brother Paul or "Pauline", physically attacking them and Ruth, giving Andrew a black eye when he suspected that Andrew revealed information about the stolen computer to Fats. Simon bullied Andrew about his acne, his "laziness"/unemployment, and refused to give him any more pocket money when he discovered that Andrew had taken up smoking. Ruth overlooked Simon's abuse, claiming that he just worried about his sons. It was clear that she was trying to hold the family together. Andrew was angry at his mother for doing so and for talking too much and earning herself beatings from Simon.

Friends
Andrew's best friend remained for a good part of the novel, Fats Wall who sees Andrew as "authentic". They often shared cigarette and joints together in the Cubbyhole, and watched porn together. They discussed Simon, Fats disliking him since Simon made him pee himself when he was a child. Fats admired Andrew when he used SQL injections to hack into the Pagford Parish Council website and post defamatory messages about Simon. As Andrew became closer to Gaia, his love interest, and Sukvinder in his job at The Copper Kettle, and as Fats sank further and further into a depression at home (due to the arguments he had with his adoptive parents), the two teenage boys were distanced. Fats looked for ways to hurt anyone else, snogging Gaia despite knowing Andrew's strong feelings for her.

Andrew fell in love with Gaia when she moved to Pagford, admiring her from behind on the school bus and staring at her whenever she was around (which she noticed). He was delighted to hear that her boyfriend from London was going out with someone else, and found great pleasure in his hours working next to Gaia and getting to know her.

Personality
Andrew appeared self-conscious about his appearance, spending hours deciding what to wear and even going as far as to experiment with his mother's foundation after an outburst of acne appeared on his face the morning of his first day's work at the Copper Kettle.

After Andrew posted messages about Simon on the parish council website, he felt guilty about his father having been made redundant. Although this guilt continued for his mother, and Paul who had suffered too from the redundancy, it dissolved for his father, who gave him several more beatings afterwards. At the end of the book however, Andrew made an internal commitment to making things right with his father.

Career and Future
Andrew signed up for a job at Howard Molllison's new café, The Copper Kettle; where, to his delight, his relationship with Gaia Bawden developed. Besides the small café job and waiting at Howard's 65th birthday party, there were no obvious career prospects for Andrew in the novel.

Near the end, Andrew planned to leave Pagford and move to London (he had previously expressed a wish for an asphalted, broken-windowed and graffiti-ridden locale) where Gaia said that she could meet up with him when she was visiting her father. It seemed, by the end, that Andrew was in for a brighter future.

Etymology
"Andrew" is an Anglicization of the Greek name Ανδρέας "Andreas", which in turn is derived from the Greek ἀνδρός "andros" meaning "man" (specifically, a male human); it thus means "manly" or "virile", hence is a cognate of Fergus.