Final answer:
Kate Chopin's personal experiences fostered the portrayal of strong bonds of sisterhood in her writings, heavily drawing from her own life and societal challenges she faced.
Step-by-step explanation:
According to Emily Toth's A New Biographical Approach, Kate Chopin's personal experiences heavily influenced her portrayal of female friendships in her writing. Chopin's life in the South, her interactions within the Creole community, and her experiences of loss and financial burdens following her husband's death provided the writer with a wealth of material. These experiences infiltrated her writings, suggesting that Chopin's personal life inspired strong bonds of sisterhood in her literature, rather than leading to isolation or having no impact at all.
In works like The Awakening and Desiree's Baby, Chopin challenges the social norms of the 19th century, illustrating how societal confines can influence women to seek support and understanding from one another, forming deep connections. She deftly illustrates deep emotional and psychosocial complexities within the female friendships she portrays. The companionship among women in her stories offers a counterpoint to the isolation imposed by the societal expectations of the time and can be seen as a response to the constraints she herself faced. Therefore, the correct answer is b) They inspire strong bonds of sisterhood.