Passage a

1 the neighbors sometimes talked of certain "better days" that little mrs. sommers had known before she had ever thought of being mrs. sommers. she herself indulged in no such morbid retrospection. she had no time—no second of time to devote to the past. the needs of the present absorbed her every faculty. a vision of the future like some dim, gaunt monster sometimes appalled her, but luckily to-morrow never comes.
2 mrs. sommers was one who knew the value of bargains, who could stand for hours making her way inch by inch toward the desired object that was selling below cost. she could elbow her way if need be; she had learned to clutch a piece of goods and hold it and stick to it with persistence and determination till her turn came to be served, no matter when it came.
3 but that day she was a little faint and tired. she had swallowed a light luncheon—no! when she came to think of it, between getting the children fed and the place righted, and preparing herself for the shopping bout, she had actually forgotten to eat any luncheon at all!
4 she sat herself upon a revolving stool before a counter that was comparatively deserted, trying to gather strength and courage to charge through an eager multitude that was besieging breastworks of shirting and figured lawn. an all-gone limp feeling had come over her and she rested her hand aimlessly upon the counter. she wore no gloves. by degrees she grew aware that her hand had encountered something very soothing, very pleasant to touch. she looked down to see that her hand lay upon a pile of silk stockings. a placard near by announced that they had been reduced in price from two dollars and fifty cents to one dollar and ninety-eight cents; and a young girl who stood behind the counter asked her if she wished to examine their line of silk hosiery. she smiled, just as if she had been asked to inspect a tiara of diamonds with the ultimate view of purchasing it. but she went on feeling the soft, sheeny luxurious things—with both hands now, holding them up to see them glisten, and to feel them glide serpent-like through her fingers.
5 two hectic blotches came suddenly into her pale cheeks. she looked up at the girl.
6 "do you think there are any eights-and-a-half among these? "
7 there were any number of eights-and-a-half. in fact, there were more of that size than any other. here was a light-blue pair; there were some lavender, some all black and various shades of tan and gray. mrs. sommers selected a black pair and looked at them very long and closely. she pretended to be examining their texture, which the clerk assured her was excellent.
8 "a dollar and ninety-eight cents," she mused aloud. "well, i'll take this pair." she handed the girl a five-dollar bill and waited for her change and for her parcel. what a very small parcel it was! it seemed lost in the depths of her shabby old shopping-bag.
9 mrs. sommers after that did not move in the direction of the bargain counter. she took the elevator, which carried her to an upper floor into the region of the ladies' waiting-rooms. here, in a retired corner, she exchanged her cotton stockings for the new silk ones which she had just bought. she was not going through any acute mental process or reasoning with herself, nor was she striving to explain to her satisfaction the motive of her action. she was not thinking at all. she seemed for the time to be taking a rest from that laborious and fatiguing function and to have abandoned herself to some mechanical impulse that directed her actions and freed her of responsibility.
10 how good was the touch of the raw silk to her flesh! she felt like lying back in the cushioned chair and reveling for a while in the luxury of it. she did for a little while. then she replaced her shoes, rolled the cotton stockings together and thrust them into her bag. after doing this she crossed straight over to the shoe department and took her seat to be fitted.

compared to the narrator of passage b, the narrator of passage a provides more information about:
a.) the personal interactions with the main character.
b.) the knowledge gained and lessons learned by the main character.
c.) the thoughts and feelings of the main character.
d.) the past experiences of the main character.