Rhetorical: Alma recapitulates the precise argument he has been making. Just as one of the literary devices he has used is the repetition of terms with similar meanings to triangulate on the concept, so here he uses thematic repetition to make sure that the argument is covered. Even though the argument advances nothing new, it is repeated in a slightly different way.
We must remember that Alma is recording an oral presentation, and such repetitions are frequently effective in an oral discourse to make sure that the point is heard and understood by an audience that will not be able to read it in the morning paper as part of their collective memory.