Love at first sight
This passage is describing the way Armand fell in love, in the same way everyone in his family fell in love. It describes the love as being shot by a pistol which shows that it happens immediately the first time they see the person that they are falling in love with.
There were 2,603 death row inmates in the United States.
Three hundred twenty-five women have since served as U.S. Representatives.
It is important to know the author's purpose because knowing the author's purpose can change how the story is being told. If someone said,"Mom, I would really like this new video game for my birthday." and the author's purpose was to inform, it would be informing the mom that the person wanted the video game. If the author's purpose was to persuade, that person would be persuading the mom to get him the video game.
