Answer :
1. The following lines from the story "The Briefcase" by Rebecca Makkai provide the evidence that the chef, even after a year in hiding, fears discovery : “At each visit to the post office, he fears he will forget the combination. It is an old lock, and complicated: F1, clockwise to B3, back to A6, forward again to J3. He must shake the little latch before it opens. More than forgetting, perhaps what he fears is that he will be denied access — that the little box will one day recognize him behind his thick and convincing beard, will decide he has no right of entry."
2. In the lines "papers flew out, a thousand doves flailing against the walls of the alley" the author compares the professor's papers to doves to emphasize the fact that there were many papers in the briefcase. The image creates a tone that a great deal of information passed into the hands of the chef. This is an example of a metaphor.
3. The chef wears the professor's clothes, takes his briefcase and starts living his life by pretending to be the professor to his friends and family. He tries to convince the professor's wife and the contacts that he found in the professor's address book that he really is the professor.
4. This pacing creates tension in the story as it makes the reader believe that he may have missed some small details in the chef's life during the time breaks that the author takes in the story "The briefcase".
5. The beggar outside the cafe is the chef's "double" because he himself was telling lies and pretending to be the professor in order to take money from the professor's contacts. The chef asks for money in a subtle way and does not make it obvious to the world like the beggar.
The chef did not want to walk past the beggar as this would make him feel guilty of stealing the professor's identity and requesting his friends for money.
6. After eight months, the chef prefers to read old newspapers and history books rather than the daily news because he wants to run away from the reality. His opinion about the news he was receiving from the newspapers he purchased has changed now and he prefers not to make a link with all that is happening in the real world. He might have also run out of money and might not be in a condition to afford the newspapers anymore. The chef does not want to face the reality that he is not the professor.
7. The astronomy riddle and the chef's predicament have been portrayed by the author as a means to convince himself that he really is the professor. The author repeats the astronomy question again and again in order to emphasize the fact that the chef is applying the riddle to the things that are going on in his life. He is comparing his plight to the astronomical question.
8. Towards the end of the story "The briefcase" the chef's begins to believe in his own lie as he starts referring to the time he spent as a chef as "in another life time". When the professor's widow wants to get him arrested for the identity theft of her husband he says “The woman does not see how she is murdering her husband, right here in the post office lobby.” This shows that the desperation to save his own life has forced him to adopt extreme measures. He can go to any length to prove that he is the real professor, even killing his own identity.
