When a story ends with one of the characters waking up, discovering that it was all a dream, we often throw the book or roll our eyes. It's a lazy ending. It's a frustrating ending. It means everything was pointless and surely that can't be on purpose, right? In this essay, Jarred Corona argues in defense of these endings. Maybe, just maybe, our frustrated questioning ("What was the point?!") is exactly what the author(s) want out of us.

This is an edited and annotated version of a script I used to film a video essay for YouTube.

Jarred Corona is a poet, playwright, author, actor, saxophonist, and musical theatre composer from Savannah, GA. He's a graduate of Western Kentucky University. His plays and musicals can be found on the New Play Exchange. He often ruminates on death, time, philosophy, horror, and violence.