Built on theoretical ground, this paper aims to bridge existentialism and feminism with the help of the most renowned thinkers in the realm of literary criticism: Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980) and Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986). Benefitting from Sartre’s views popularized in Existentialism is Humanism (1946), Between Existentialism and Marxism (1974), Existentialism and Human Emotions (1957), Being and Nothingness: An Essay on Phenomenological Ontology (1943) the paper reveals how he emphasizes the importance of choice, responsibility, and authenticity. He believes in humans’ fundamental freedom, and assumes that individuals are responsible for their mindfulness, and their actions. Next, philosophy is interlinked to social science with the existentially feminist insights of Beauvoir reflected in The Ethics of Ambiguity (1947), The Second Sex (1949). Beauvoir accepts the existentialist tenets of Sartre by negating human fate; humans’ freedom is absolute, since humans are free to choose in every walk of life. Thus, by promoting freedom and choice, Beauvoir’s The Second Sex, a classic feminist text, laid the conceptual framework for second-wave feminism that flourished during the 1960s in the USA. To conclude, both Sartre and Beauvoir have endeavored to support the notion of the self as well as its connection to personal liberation. Focusing on some of the most prevalent themes in the twenty-century literature — namely freedom, despair, alienation and choice — they have challenged humans’ definition of responsibility and partnership to delineate modern ethics and human understanding.

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