The Briefcase by Rebecca Makkai

Which of the following quotes from the text best shows the development of the theme of loss of identity?

• Before the war this man had been a chef, and his one crime was feeding the people who say at his tables in small clouds of smoke and talked politics.

• Today, his hands smelled of ink, when for thirty years they had smelled of leeks.

• The post box, of course, was in a different city than the one where he stayed.

• A different kind of case, open on the ground, this one collecting the pennies of the more compassionate passers-by.

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In paragraph 13, the chef writes a proof that answers the professor’s exam question. How does he use the idea of equidistant bodies in his proof?

• Everything is the same distance from the sun.

• His cigarette is the sun and it revolves around the Earth.

• The cigarette is the same distance from everything in the universe.

• The sun is the center of the universe and the Earth revolves around it.

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Based on context, the word mandoline in paragraph 14 refers to a --

• Type of pen

• Certain food

• Kitchen utensil

• Book binding

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Which two statements provide evidence of how the underlying culture depicted in the story shapes the character of the chef?

• The chef was accused of associating with criminals.

• Soldiers were arresting people randomly.

• The chef grows a beard to look like the professor.

• A violin player begs for spare change.

• The widow calls the police.

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In paragraphs 20-23, the author further develops the character of the chef by showing him to be --

• Curious and interested in subjects he might once have considered elitist.

• Restless and so bored that he starts reading old newspapers.

• Thrifty and careful not to waste his scarce money on newspapers.

• Inept at assuming the role of a professor publicly reading his books.

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Which two statements show how the chef rationalizes his guilt?

• His concept of time changed when he finally understood that the sun circled the Earth.

• He asked the professor’s colleagues and friends to tell his wife that he was okay so she wouldn’t worry.

• He thought the professor was asking students to prove false truths.

• He decided that assuming the professor’s identity was not a robbery but simply an apology.

• He was convinced that people would believe he was the professor, so the professor could not be dead.

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Which line from the story provides the best evidence that the chef is envious of the professor’s life?

• Here were graded papers, a fall syllabus, the typed draft of an exam.

• He was not blessed, like the professor, with years of scholarship and quiet offices and leather books.

• He has learned that he has a young son. Rather, the professor has a son.

• He wanted only to know who this professor was, this man who would teach his students the laws of the universe, then ask them to prove as true what was false.

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The word vacate comes from the Latin word vacāre, meaning “to be empty”. Based on this information, what does the word vacate mean in paragraph 32?

• Annul

• Void

• Eliminate

• Evacuate

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Which line from the story represents an event of the plot that supports the theme of balance in the universe?

• With his left hand, he adjusted the loop of steel that cuffed his right hand to the line of doomed men.

• He arrived at the post office just before closing, and came only once every two to three weeks.

• He had written to his friends A through L, and now he saved the rest and wrote instead to students.

• The professor would not die, because he himself would become the professor, and he would live.

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A student report on “The Briefcase” included this paragraph:

The story illustrates the worst aspects of a police state and living in a repressed society. The chef’s loss of identity might feel like a good thing because he has gained another persona. The new identity is neither better nor worse. It is different because it is not his own.

Which is the best way to combine the last two sentences?

• The new identity is neither better nor worse, it is different because it is not his own.

• The new identity is neither better nor worse; it is different because it is not his own.

• The new identity is neither better, nor worse, it is different because it is not his own.

• The new identity is neither better nor worse it is different, because it is not his own.

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