The article “The Psychological Impact of Sacrifice in Romantic Relationships and Partner Wellbeing” by Gabriele Barrocas. This article is found on the Stanford University website. In the is article, Barrocas explains how sacrifice benefits and strengthened intimate relationships. Barrocas does this by highlighting the work of Robert Sternberg and his “Triangular theory of love.” This theory is split up into 3 components: Intimacy, Passion, and Commitment.

First, Intimacy is key component to a relationship to function and work healthily. Intimacy leads to greater passion and thereafter strong commitment. Intimacy can be boil down to love and bond that is shared between their closeness.

An example of Intimacy in “The Gift of the Magi” is when Jim explains to his wife Della it doesn’t matter to him that she cut most of hair off to buy a gift for him because he loves her for the way she is even without long beautiful hair. Even though they sacrificed so much to buy each other gifts they realized how much more important their intimacy is.

Secondly, Passion is gas that drives a relationship forward. It’s what brings liveliness and unbounded care and love into intimate relationships. Passionate relationships use sacrifices to benefit their “romantic partner, they tend to feel more appreciated which leads to increased relationship satisfaction,”(Barrocas 10).

In addition, “The Gift of Magi” suggests that Della and Jim relationship is passionate and full of heart as Jim works a hard job to please and support his wife. Della then compliments this by also supporting her husband despite the little money she brings in. There relationship wouldn’t succeed without passion as both people work a live for each other as if they were one.

To be frank, sacrifice can be done in many shapes and forms in relationship. It is clear that it can strengthen intimate bonds between 2 people. This evident in the short story “The Gift of the Magi” as the moral of the story is to show the deep love Della and Jim share for one another despite the material things they have sacrificed. Sacrifice in a relationship works because intimacy, passion, and commitment and it will continue to be an amazing fruitful process of building a strong firm foundation.