Character Analysis
Andrei is part Peter Pan and part Hannibal Lecter—a dastardly combination if we've ever heard one. The poor guy is stuck in his childhood, compelled to commit a series of murders in an attempt to recreate his childhood trauma.
Hard Times
Andrei's childhood was rough by any measure. Though his mother Oksana spent "every waking hour and every fretful dream" thinking of ways to keep her family together, the loss of her husband made things exponentially more difficult (1.1.5). In this absence, Andrei turns to his older brother Pavel for inspiration. Pavel is a supremely capable little dude: a skilled hunter and provider for his family. Though Andrei is a little dense—and more than a little near-sighted—his older brother provides inspiration for everything he does.
Given this relationship, Andrei jumps at the chance to help Pavel catch a cat… you know, to eat, since there's a famine going on. For Andrei, this is an opportunity to prove himself—an opportunity to prove his love for his brother. And, though he slips up along the way, he does exactly that: "Pavel couldn't have caught the cat without him" (1.1.65). Unfortunately, what should have been the best day of his life suddenly becomes the worst when Pavel goes missing. Even worse, his mother blames Andrei for the disappearance and abuses him.
Hello, Clarice
While this might earn him sympathy, Andrei channels this trauma in the worst way possible. Though he blends into society, hiding behind the facade a marriage (that is seemingly loveless), he can't get past that pivotal childhood experience. We're not exactly sure when Andrei began his string of murders, but eventually that tragic day during this childhood became "the template for some kind of psychotic frenzy" (4.57.5).
So do you think Andrei really only murdered people to get in touch with Pavel? On some level, we're sure that he believes that. But the truth is that Andrei killed because he liked it—how else could you do that so many innocent children? Though we might be able to sympathize with the struggles Andrei has endured, nothing can quite excuse the monster that he becomes.