Waiting for Godot

In Waiting for Godot, Vladimir and Estragon reminisce, converse, and wonder, because these are the things people do when they wait, and waiting is what Vladimir and Estragon do. 

Like the bed-bound storytellers and devising devisors before them, Vladimir and Estragon must create in order for something to come. That something might not be Godot, but it can be memories, observations, and hopes–all things that don't come until created. 

A dead tree symbolizes the desolation in Godot. Fuel for creativity doesn't abound, so Vladimir and Estragon begin a metacommentary, in essence burning parts of their own ship to keep the dialogue going:

     VLADIMIR: We have to come back tomorrow.

     ESTRAGON: What for?

     VLADIMIR: To wait for Godot.

     ESTRAGON: Ah! [Silence.] He didn't come?

     VLADIMIR: No.

     ESTRAGON: And now it's too late.

     VLADIMIR: Yes, now it's night.

     ESTRAGON: And if we dropped him? [Pause.] If we dropped him?

     VLADIMIR: He'd punish us. [Silence. He looks at the tree.] Everything's dead but the tree. 

     (Vol. III 83)

Death or waiting–these are Vladimir and Estragon's choices. The selection seems to be waiting, but only barely–a plan to hang themselves from the tree is tabled for a later date because of logistics.