Read the passage. from “the first seven years” by bernard malamud “,” max said, nervously alert. he was tall and grotesquely thin, with sharply cut features, particularly a beak-like nose. he was wearing a loose, long slushy overcoat that hung down to his ankles, looking like a rug draped over his bony shoulders, and a soggy, old brown hat, as battered as the shoes he had brought in. identify the plot element in this passage.