Eva sacrifices herself because it is her choice to do so, but mostly because she genuinely loves her daughter Sula.

The ambivalence in the relationship between Annette and Antoinette is painful at times, and leads to the mental illnesses that consume both mother and daughter. It is uncertain whether mental illness impeded the mother-daughter relationship from developing in Wide Sargasso Sea, or whether the thwarted relationship caused mental illness. In any case, Antoinette is shown to be a person who needs the role of mother in her life. This is why she develops a strong bond with Christophene. This "cross-racial mothering relationship" allows Antoinette to "transfer" her love, which Annette could not accept, to a surrogate (Adalgisa 62). The role of Christophene as surrogate mother is not unusual, according to Adalgisa. In traditional cultures, and especially those of West Africa, the "othermother" was a woman who would help a birthmother...
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