We can actually infer that the purpose of the rhetorical question at the beginning of the second paragraph in this excerpt is: to emphasize the importance of family to the speaker.
Rhetorical question actually refers to the question that one asks which doesn't need an answer but has answer in itself.
We can see here that the writer stated a rhetorical question which tends to emphasize how important the family is to the speaker.
Learn more about rhetorical question on https://brainly.com/question/3218273
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